When Philippe Coutinho moved to Aston Villa on loan from Barcelona, there was widespread joy in the Catalan media that the club could be seeing the back of the Brazilian once and for all.
Signed from Liverpool in 2018, Coutinho’s arrival ended up as more a battle of wills between Barca and the Anfield club, with the effort going into winning the transfer war seemingly greater than the thought of where he’d fit in the team.
Despite his great period of form with the Reds in the Premier League, Coutinho was unable to fulfil whatever Barcelona wanted of him and his huge transfer fee was mentioned on a daily basis.
Since then, the player’s career has been something of a struggle.
That was eased with some good form on loan at Aston Villa, and Steven Gerrard pushed for a permanent transfer. Now, the manager has gone and the Catalan media are getting some digs in ahead of the World Cup.
Wednesday’s edition of Sport says ‘time has run out’ for Coutinho and he won’t be going to Qatar. That’s stated as fact and his form at Villa this season is given as the reason.
Sport say Gerrard was the ‘guarantor of his signing’, and even he sent the player to the bench. According to the report, which presents itself as being from inside information and ‘confidential’, Everton Ribeiro will be picked instead.
It’s worth noting that in Brazil there’s a feeling manager Tite will pick Coutinho for old times’ sake, so it remains to be seen whether Sport are correct.
