Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard has confirmed the club want to keep Filipe Coutinho at the club next season.

“Coutie” signed a loan contract to join from Barcelona. until the end of this season With a contract option to buy 40 million euros at the end of this season. while his contract with Barcelona expires at the end of June 2023.

Villa would rather not fork out the full €40m to get him, however, and hope to talk Barca down from the price they initially agreed upon. the UFABET report

Club officials will meet with Barcelona representatives this week to negotiate a new price.

But while Villa would rather pay around half of that fee – around €20m (£17m/$21m), Barca do not want to settle for such a low fee. They would be open to parting ways with him for closer to €30m (£26m/$32m).

“We want Coutinho to stay with us, that’s for sure. We have many games left for the rest of the season. And I’m sure it will be enough for both Coutinho and Buendia to have games they’re satisfied with. Coutinho understands the situation and the decisions of the team. He has played quite a lot of games with us. And there is no problem in this regard.”

Coutinho has made 15 appearances for Aston Villa, scoring four goals and three assists.