Arsenal, West Ham United 'to rival Aston Villa for Philippe Coutinho'

Arsenal and West Ham United may reportedly make an approach for Barcelona midfielder Philippe Coutinho during the summer transfer window.

Coutinho is currently on loan at Aston Villa, where he has contributed two goals and two assists from his first four appearances in the Premier League.

Villa are said to have the option to buy Coutinho for a fee in the region of €40m (£33.43m) at the end of the season, a clause which they are likely to activate providing that the Brazilian maintains his current output.

However, according to Fichajes, Arsenal and West Ham are monitoring the situation ahead of making a bid of their own.

The two London clubs have seemingly been left encouraged by the form of 29-year-old and would be prepared to pay a similar fee to Villa.

Nevertheless, they can only get involved if Villa opt against signing Coutinho on a permanent basis.