Turkish giants Besiktas have submitted a formal offer to sign Aston Villa winger Philippe Coutinho, according to SPORT.
The Brazilian forward has fallen out of favour at Villa Park since the arrival of Spanish manager Unai Emery but could be handed a lifeline in the Turkish top flight.
Coutinho joined Villa on an initial loan deal from Barcelona in January last year. He did enough to convince the club hierarchy to make his stay permanent for around €20 million last summer.
The 31-year-old has made 41 appearances since arriving at Villa, finding the back of the net six times while providing three assists.
However, his numbers last season were far from encouraging, with the former Bayern Munich loanee notching just one assist in 22 appearances across all competitions.
Coutinho is not in Emery’s long-term plans, and Villa are keen to offload the Brazil international this summer. Besiktas are interested in the forward and have tabled a bid.
The Super Lig giants are willing to take Coutinho on a season-long loan deal with a buy option of around €8m, but the Turkish outfit want Villa to cover 60% of the player’s salary.
It remains to be seen if Villa are willing to accept Besiktas’ proposal, but the clubs are currently locked in negotiations to finalise a transfer.
Besiktas finished third last term – eight points off Super Lig champions Galatasaray – and the Black Eagles are keen to bolster their squad to reclaim their domestic crown next season.
Villa also want to free up space in their squad to allow for more recruits, with Emery keen to build on last season’s remarkable progress where they finished in the European places.
The Villans recently announced former Sevilla sporting director Monchi as the man to oversee their summer transfer business and have several targets on their radar.
They have already agreed a deal to land Leicester City midfielder Youri Tielemans on a free transfer, but more fresh faces are expected to arrive at Villa Park over the course of the transfer window.
