What went wrong for Philippe Coutinho at Aston Villa?

Express & Star

Matt Maher and Jonny Drury discuss Philippe Coutinho's departure from Aston Villa. The former Barcelona star headed out on a second loan spell last month - after a tough couple of seasons at Villa Park. They look back at his big arrival under Steven Gerrard - and why it hasn't gone to plan for the Brazilian.

Transcript

00:00Matt, a player or another player who's going to be departing Aston Villa this summer is

00:11Philip Coutinho. Someone who arrived with sort of big, big hopes in the Steven Gerrard

00:17short era for Aston Villa. Came in on loan, did OK early on, then came in for £17 million.

00:25Rooney Emery never really made an impact, has been out on loan, heading back out on

00:31loan now to the club where he started his career. Just reflecting on his time at Aston

00:37Villa, obviously a massive name when he came in, but what sort of went wrong for Coutinho?

00:43Was it just a case he was never an Emery player?

00:46He was never fit, essentially. I think it does come down to a couple of injuries, hadn't

00:52he? A boss with fairly serious injuries, let's not try and downplay them. His issue,

00:58particularly in the last two years since Emery's arrival, has been staying on the field. I

01:05think that sees the first full season at Aston Villa, there were at least three, possibly

01:10four hamstring injuries. Every time it looked like he was about to take off and gain some

01:16momentum, it all got disrupted and stopped by injuries. He struggled for form, obviously,

01:26but I do think it's the injuries that have done for him. He's 31 now, but he feels very

01:36old, 31, having watched him. He scored in the game against Arsenal two seasons ago and

01:46played well in that game, but then got injured in that game and that was pretty much it for

01:53him.

01:56In retrospect, people at the time, bear in mind this guy who was sold, he's still the

02:02third most expensive player in the history of the game, when for Villa to get 17 million

02:08after a pretty decent loan spell under Steven Gerrard, it felt like a bit of a no-brainer

02:14at the time. Some people may have written that, me included, but in retrospect it was

02:24a bad deal. He's really not lived up to expectations. He was a huge factor in Gerrard leaving the

02:33club because he kept on backing him in that first bit of that season when it all went

02:38wrong for Gerrard. He kept on backing Villa Coutinho and Coutinho just didn't deliver.

02:45Speeds went on at Villa, they'll say what a good guy he is. I honestly don't think it's

02:49been for the want of trying. I don't think it's a question of attitude or that he's mentally

02:55kind of checked out on his career. I just think his body is starting to give up on him.

03:01The reports in the Brazilian press say that he's going back to Brazil because he's determined

03:07to get back into the Brazil national squad, which is great ambition. I'd be really surprised

03:15if he manages it, but fair play to him and good luck to him. This is a loan. Villa wanted

03:21him off the books permanently. He's one of the highest earners. That's the other factor

03:25in this. But obviously Vasco de Gama doesn't have huge money, it's not like the Premier

03:30League. So it's a loan deal. Villa will hope that perhaps by the end of next summer they'll

03:39be in a position where they can pay off the rest of his contract or there might be a chance

03:45to do a permanent deal when he'll have just one year left. But for the fanfare that he

03:54arrived with, the delivery, the results have been disappointing.

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