With on-loan defender Axel Tuanzebe leaving Aston Villa for a different loan spell away from his parent club Manchester United, this time to Napoli - as well as reports claiming that Wesley will be joining Brazilian club Internacional on a temporary basis until the end of the season after his loan spell with Club Brugge earlier in the campaign - Villa seem to have been more focused on getting players out of the club rather than bringing new ones in this month.

However, it seems as though the Midlands club could be set to welcome their first new face of the 2022 January transfer window imminently, which will surely excite a lot of fans.

What's the latest?

According to a recent report from The Athletic by journalists David Ornstein and Gregg Evans which was shared on Ornstein's official Twitter profile, Barcelona star Philippe Coutinho is set to join Villa on a six-month loan deal after a number of Premier League clubs were apparently interested in signing him.

The report also claimed that the opportunity to play under Steven Gerrard was the key factor in the 29-year-old's decision to return to the Premier League.

The move has now been confirmed by Villa's official club website, which stated that "the agreement, which is subject to the player completing a medical and receiving a work permit, also includes an option to buy and Philippe will travel to Birmingham in the next 48 hours."

During his time with Liverpool, Coutinho made 152 appearances in the Premier League, scoring 41 goals and providing 37 assists in the process, with 81 of those games seeing him play alongside Gerrard, who recently labelled the Brazilian a "serial winner" and a "special footballer".

Even though Coutinho has only scored 25 goals and provide 14 assists in 106 appearances for Barcelona since he made his big-money move to the La Liga club back in January 2018, it is still an exciting piece of business for Villa and their fans to see Coutinho playing under his former teammate for the remainder of the season.

Moving forward, if Coutinho can hit the ground running at Villa and Gerrard can get the best out of his former Reds team-mate in terms of goals, assists and solid performances, this could be just what the Midlanders need in order to get consistent results under their belt after winning four and losing four of their eight Premier League games since the 41-year-old took over in November.

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