Philippe Coutinho will reportedly be the subject of significant interest from Qatar in the coming weeks amid ongoing talk of an Aston Villa exit.
The 31-year-old initially joined us on loan from Barcelona in January 2022, before making his move permanent last summer.
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Although he made a positive impression in those first few months, the Brazilian international struggled last season with injuries and form, and he has ultimately contributed just six goals and three assists in 42 appearances.
While the injury suffered by Emiliano Buendia last week was a huge blow for us and that void will need filling by others this season as we look to compete on multiple fronts, it doesn’t seem as though it has entirely dismissed question marks over Coutinho’s future at Villa.
According to Fabrizio Romano, clubs in Qatar are preparing to push to sign the playmaker in the final days of the summer transfer window. Further, he adds that clubs from Saudi Arabia are also keen and have made approaches, and so the door is firmly open for Coutinho to accept a proposal and move on.
Following the arrivals of Moussa Diaby and Nicolo Zaniolo this summer, that could push the former Barcelona ace further down the pecking order and limit his playing time, and so an exit could be the right choice for all concerned at this point.
Naturally, there was always a hope that he would rediscover his best form and shine in a Villa shirt, but his injury issues at the back-end of last season were a real frustration, as Unai Emery was denied the opportunity to see how Coutinho could fit into his style of play and preferred system.
While he was involved over pre-season, it remains to be seen how big a role he’ll play in our upcoming games as we do have a busy schedule and will need to rotate, but with speculation refusing to go away and with the opportunities that an exit could open up for us to continue to strengthen, it’s certainly one to watch in the coming weeks.
