Coutinho Finally Near To Making FC Barcelona Happy

Say what you like about Philippe Coutinho and life at FC Barcelona since his club record €160 ($175mn) transfer from Liverpool at the turn of 2018.

When needed, the Brazilian has never kicked up a fuss to go out on loan somewhere in search of more playing time or help the Catalans out of a bind – something the likes of happy benchwarmers such as Samuel Umtiti could learn from.

While his first assignment saw him wind up at Bayern Munich and win the treble, and also take in a 8-2 humbling of the Catalans in the Champions League quarter-final in Lisbon, Coutinho is now recapturing his form and love of the game at Aston Villa where ex-Liverpool teammate and now manager Steven Gerrard is besotted with the ‘Little Magician’.

“Phil was successful at Barcelona, but he had difficult periods as well,” pointed out Gerrard following Saturday’s 4-0 destruction of Southampton, where Coutinho once again found himself on the scoresheet. “He got to the stage where he needed a change of scenery and a different movie.”

“We want to be that movie for him because if we want to get to where we want to be, we need to build it around talents like Phil, because at his best he is a high-level player,” Gerrard went on. “All good teams have game-changers who the opposition are really concerned about before a ball is kicked. Phil has that status and he is giving belief to his team-mates.”

“All I can do is give my opinion to [sporting director] Johan Lange, [chief executive] Christian Purslow and the owners,” the England legend said, as per activating Coutinho’s €40mn ($43mn) purchase option at the end of the season.

“They are watching the games and they will make the final decision. Phil has shown what he is capable of so far.”

Scoring three goals and providing three assists since switching allegiances, AS claim that Coutinho is finally near to “making Barca happy”.

Indeed, Xavi Hernandez’s men are in a win-win here. If Villa do not make the loan move permanent, they have helped Coutinho return to his best in a World Cup year where he will start 2022-2023 as he means to go on with Qatar 2022 on the horizon.

Yet if they do, he frees up valuable space for the salary cap with the money from his transfer providing more than half that needed to purchase Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund.