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Former Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho (Image: Getty Images)

Aston Villa want to terminate the contract of former Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho to remove his hefty salary from their finances.

The Brazilian, who spent five years at Anfield before joining Barcelona for £142m in January 2018, spent the past year on loan at Vasco da Gama, having returned to the club where he started his career in July 2024.

With Coutinho's loan period coming to a close and one year left on his Villa Park deal, the club sees financial sense in terminating his contract, hoping for a mutual termination agreement.



Coutinho's move to Villa became permanent in May 2022 after an impressive initial loan from Barcelona starting in January of the same year.

Brought to Villa by the then-manager Steven Gerrard, Coutinho hit the ground running but later found it challenging to maintain form, reports Birmingham Live.

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Despite being 33 and eager to sort his future out, earlier in June, no resolution was reached.

Coutinho hinted to Premiere, reported by ESPN Brasil, that talks were progressing: "People are talking, this week I think it's positive to talk about and decide everything," said the midfielder.

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Vasco's chief executive Carlos Amodeo echoed this optimism at the beginning of the month, stating: "The goal is to keep the player.

Coutinho is a player we want to count on for the rest of the season.

We're in contact with his staff, awaiting his release."

Speaking to the ECHO in 2019, Liverpool chairman Tom Werner stated that Coutinho "probably regrets" choosing to leave Anfield for Barcelona.

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He said: "I would just point to the story of Philippe Coutinho.

But I think he left Liverpool because he wanted to play for one of the two big Spanish clubs.

"We tried to convince him that we had the club moving in the right direction and that he could experience big Champions League occasions by staying at Liverpool.