NSWE make shrewd Aston Villa transfer decision with Philippe Coutinho exit - Finance Expert

We’re delighted to welcome football finance expert Dr Daniel Plumley as our exclusive columnist, he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Aston Villa.

Dan Plumley has praised NSWE after the "shrewd" business decision to sign off on the Aston Villa exit of Philippe Coutinho in the past month.

The Brazilian finally moved on to seal a switch to Qatar and Al-Duhail on loan until the end of the season, likely getting his wages off the monthly bill.

The finance expert admitted Coutinho will have been one of the higher earners at Villa Park, and sanctioning his exit can offset some of the money spent on bringing players to the club.

"It just seems a good bit of business all around," he exclusively told Villa News.

"It didn't quite work out for Coutinho there, he came in under a different manager and now the whole set-up has changed.

"He would have been a high earner and one to get off the wage bill if he's not in your plans, and of course, the recruitment strategy seems quite smart and there has been a couple of signings making a good impact.

"It appears to be working out so along the way if you can offset that with getting some players off the wage bill and getting good value, it seems to be a shrewd piece of business."

Steven Gerrard was the man behind the signing of Coutinho, and the arrival of Unai Emery saw his influence weaken, with numerous injuries also halting his progress before the move.

In other Aston Villa news, the future of this loanee hangs in the balance as contract talks await.