All aboard the showboat...

While we would be excited to see Philippe Coutinho in a Villa shirt, there has to be some concern that Lambert would spunk his entire war chest on a 20 year old attacking midfielder when we are leaking like a sieve at the back.

Undoubtedly, Phil - as we'll insist on calling him if he signs - would see a move to Villa as a stepping stone to bigger and better things, so the 12 million quid or so it would take to capture him could be seen as a sound investment, but this would be another player with no Premier League experience and only a handful of Serie A games to his name.

We also have to wonder why Inter are ready to offload such a precocious talent.

Told that Villa are not in for Coutinho!

— Pete Colley (@petecolley) January 10, 2013