Aston Villa will ask Barcelona to half their €40million (£32.2m) valuation for Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho, according to reports in Spain.
Coutinho, 29, return to the Premier League in January and has impressed under the stewardship of former Liverpool teammates and Villa boss Steven Gerrard.
When joining the Midlands club, a €40m (£33m) purchase option was included in the agreement, and Villa are hopeful Barca will now go half on the asking price.
The report by Sport claims: 'Steven Gerrard is in favour of signing Coutinho, but Aston Villa seems to want to cut the transfer fee by half, arguing that they will have to assume the player's entire (salary).