Phillippe Coutinho closing in on Aston Villa exit as loan move to Al Duhail agreed - Fabrizio Romano

Phillipe Coutinho is closing in on an exit from Aston Villa after a loan move has been agreed with Al Duhail, according to Fabrizio Romano.

The Italian journalist tweeted on 6 September that the Qatari side have agreed to cover the Brazilian midfielder's salary during his time in the Middle East.

He said the 31-year-old accepted the offer 10 days ago as he turned down approaches from Besiktas and Real Betis in favour of a move to Al Duhail.

Close

It looks as though a deal to take Coutinho to the Middle Eastern side is close to being completed following the latest update from Romano, who said his trademark "here we go" tweet will be on the way soon.

It's interesting to hear that the midfielder had very little interest in remaining in Europe after turning down offers from Turkey and Spain.

After accepting the deal to join Al Duhail 10 days ago, he was clearly set on making the move to Qatar, most likely in the hope that he can secure a lucrative contract at the end of his loan.

Villa will be pleased to see the Brazilian's future now looking set to be sorted and that all his wages will be covered after there has been much speculation around him over the summer.

After having a successful first couple of months in a Villans shirt, his time at the club hasn't quite panned out how everyone would have hoped and him moving on is probably for the best.

In other Aston Villa news, one big-money signing continued his average start to life at Villa against Liverpool.