Philippe Coutinho is reportedly set to return to Aston Villa this month as his loan stint in Qatar will be cut short, but another exit is expected.
The 31-year-old joined us on an initial loan move from Barcelona in January 2022, and after a bright start at the club under former boss Steven Gerrard, his switch was made permanent the following summer.
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However, injuries and poor form ultimately led to the decision from Unai Emery to ship him out temporarily for now, with Coutinho contributing six goals and three assists in 43 appearances for Villa, prior to his exit to join Al-Duhail.
While he had been expected to remain in Qatar until the summer, AS now report that following an unsuccessful loan stint thus far, he’s now set to cut his stay short and return to Villa this month.
Importantly though, it’s added that Emery has no place for him in his current squad, and so a fresh loan exit is expected to be the priority for Coutinho, with MLS clubs like Inter Miami and LA Galaxy being touted as potential destinations.
Should that now materialise, it remains to be seen how that impacts us in terms of a loan fee and how much of his wages are covered for the duration of a new deal, as ultimately if he doesn’t feature in Emery’s plans, we’d ideally offload him to remove that expense off our books and hopefully with an eventual permanent move in mind too.
The Brazilian playmaker’s contract with us runs until June 2026, and so it’s a disappointing development to hear that his loan spell in Qatar isn’t going to plan, as ultimately the hope was that he would attract significant interest and seal a transfer elsewhere off the back of his time with Al-Duhail, to ensure we secured a decent fee.
Instead, Villa will seemingly now hope to find a solution in the coming weeks if the report is accurate and he does return to the club, as having moved in a different direction with other players and having decided to part ways with Coutinho last year, there doesn’t appear to be a path back for him under Emery.