West Ham have been linked with a shock summer swoop to sign Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona.
The Brazilian midfielder was loaned to Aston Villa in the January transfer window and the Premier League club have the option to buy him at the end of the season, should they want to. 
However, reports in Spain now claim that there is real interest from two other Premier League clubs in signing Coutinho when the summer transfer window opens.
One of those is said to be Arsenal, per Fichajes, while there is also interest from the Hammers in potentially securing his signature.
Coutinho has already impressed for Villa, scoring twice and laying on two assists in just four games, including a goal on his debut in the 2-2 draw with Manchester United.
It would, of course, be a major shock if the Hammers were able to snaffle the ex-Liverpool ace away from Barca in the summer, especially as it seems that it is Villa who are firmly leading the queue.
Please stop with the “Hammers linked with…” posts. We saw them all through the Winter window and it just made me not want to come to the site any more. . These “news” articles never go anywhere…. Maybe just have a section of the site for these “reports”…
Sorry to whinge.
They get more hits than most others so some are obviously interested 🙂
Seems it took Villa less time to sign him up on loan than it took us to proclaim that there is nobody of quality available…..
Wasting our time with this one even if it is true. Coutino had strong link with Steven Gerrard from Liverpool days so that’s why he agreed to go to Villa. They will sign him up given performance so far so move on!
Obviously you don’t need to read the site LOL