Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was coy today about interest in Philippe Coutinho.

Arsenal face Aston Villa this weekend being linked with Coutinho, who is on-loan at Villa Park from Barcelona.

Arteta said, "The team activates a lot of things when he's on the ball so obviously it's something we have to bare in mind.

"[He has the] ability to create goals and chances and unlock spaces when they don't exist. That's something he did consistently when he was at Liverpool."

On reports of interest in the Brazilian, he added: "We looked at many different players with qualities that he had and at the end we went for a different one."