Philippe Coutinho has taken a 70 per cent cut on his Barcelona wages to sign permanently with Aston Villa.

The Brazilian had been earning massive wages with Barcelona, figures Aston Villa would certainly not be able to afford without breaking apart their financial structure.

However, now Coutinho is thought to have cut his wages in order to force through a £17m move to play under Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, his former team-mate at Liverpool.

He had been earning an incredible £480,000-a-week at Barcelona - Villa had paid him £120,000 a week during his loan spell.

Coutinho, 29, has been on loan at Villa from Barcelona since January and scored four goals.

But a permanent deal was announced by the club's chief executive Christian Purslow at Villa's end of season awards dinner.