Journalist Dean Jones has claimed that Philippe Coutinho can be as influential for Aston Villa as Jack Grealish was during his time at the club.
Coutinho joined Aston Villa on loan from Barcelona in January and has featured in seven games whilst scoring and assisting three times, according to Transfermarkt.
The Brazilian was brought in to Villa Park by former teammate Steven Gerrard in the hope that he can restore some of the form that he had in his first stint in the Premier League with Liverpool.
Jones spoke to GIVEMESPORT and highlighted the quality that Coutinho still has and said he can be as “influential as Grealish”.
He said: “I think he can be as influential as Grealish. I feel it will be slightly different because he’s not going to play with the same intensity, perhaps, as Grealish did. But, in terms of having the hunger and the magic to produce the big moments, he has undoubtedly still got it. He is the highest quality player in his side by some distance.”
TIF Thoughts on Philippe Coutinho…
Coutinho has been excellent since his return to the Premier League for Aston Villa. In his last six games he has an average match rating of 7.55, as per SofaScore, which included an 8.8 rating against Leeds United last month.
With Coutinho producing these mesmerising performances for Villa, sides higher up the Premier League table or even Champions League clubs from abroad could start to show interest in the Brazilian.
The £16.2m-rated 29-year-old is only on loan to Villa from Barcelona, but if he wants to make the deal permanent, he may have to take a pay cut, according to The Sun.
As Coutinho is performing so well at Villa, then he may well decide to take a pay cut to ensure that he continues to enjoy his football and the regular game time that he is being given under Gerrard.