Some may have forgotten, but Philippe Coutinho is still on Aston Villa’s books.
The 32-year-old was a headliner of the infamous Steven Gerrard era at Villa and the one expected to take the team to the next level.
Coutinho joined Aston Villa during the 2022 January transfer window and had a debut to remember.
The former Liverpool player scored during Villa’s 2-2 draw against Manchester United by coming off the bench and netting the equaliser.
At that moment, many were excited by what he was going to bring to the table and how the then-on-loan Barcelona star was going to take the team to higher heights.
But it never materialised that way, with Coutinho struggling for form and constant injuries making matters worse for him.
As Unai Emery guided Villa to the Champions League last season, the Brazilian star went on loan to Qatari side Al-Duhail, before joining his boyhood club Vasco da Gama this summer.
Philippe Coutinho struggling at Vasco da Gama as Aston Villa spell nearing an end
When Coutinho initially joined Villa on a loan deal from Barcelona, he proceeded to get back into the Brazil squad after a period out in the wilderness.
At that time, he was hitting 30 and hoping to recapture the form that won over lots of hearts at Liverpool.
But fast forward to the present and Coutinho is struggling at his boyhood club Vasco, who are sitting tenth in Brazil’s top tier.
He is yet to score and only has one assist to his name, with WhoScored rating his performances at 6.33.
| Tournament | Apps | Mins | Goals | Assists | AvgP | KeyP | SpG | Drb | Unsuccessful touches | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brasileirão | 4(6) | 390 | 1 | – | 20.4 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 6.33 |
| Cup | 3 | N/A | 1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | – | |
| Total / Average | 13 | 390 | 2 | 0 | 20.4 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 6.33 |
What Unai Emery has said about Coutinho
It’s a shame that it didn’t work out for Coutinho at Villa because there was so much excitement around his arrival.
In truth, if you look at it, he didn’t play much under Emery and a large part of his struggles, ironically enough, were under Gerrard.
It’s a career that has, unfortunately, gone south as soon as he left Liverpool for huge money in 2018, but you couldn’t blame him for wanting to play for Barcelona.
Before Coutinho headed out on his first loan spell away from Villa last summer, Emery was pretty complimentary towards the players, as he told Birmingham Live during the summer of 2023.
“Philippe is a very good person and always we have to respect him as a person, firstly,” said Emery.
“Secondly, as a player, he has played at a very high level. He has not been consistent because of injuries and we decided with him speaking and agreeing with him to try that if something is good for him, and good for the club, and for the squad, we can let him leave.
“Then he can find his good performance as a player. Then it’s whether he completes it or not.”
