Sky Sports’ presenter Joe Thomlinson has questioned the reason why Aston Villa signed Philippe Coutinho.
Since Steven Gerrard has been at the helm at Villa Park, a lot of exciting signings have been made, costing the club’s owners £90m, with the likes of Boubacar Kamara, Diego Carlos and Coutinho joining the club.
However, that sort of transfer activity has not resulted in Villa climbing up the table and becoming more competitive, with Gerrard seeing his side languishing in the bottom half of the table having won twice in the league this season and scoring just six goals along the way – the third-lowest out of any team in the top flight.
Thomlinson was asked on the Football Daily YouTube channel about Coutinho’s role at Villa and questioned if he was a necessary permanent signing given they already had Emiliano Buendia, saying: “He was not good enough to warrant the taking of Buendia out of the team. With Buendia there, did you need to spend the extra £20m on Coutinho?”
Has Coutinho been a flop at Villa?
Yes!
No!
TIF Thoughts on Coutinho’s Villa tenure…
Coutinho set Villa back £20m over the summer and has not managed to register a single goal involvement in the Premier League this season, while also restricting the minutes of Buendia given they play in the same position.
It’s seemingly a problem Gerrard has through the team, as he has Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins waiting to play in the lone striker spot without either staking a great claim to be first-choice, while Buendia and Coutinho both want to play in the same attacking-midfield position between the lines.
Thomlinson has raised a valid question as to whether or not Coutinho was a necessary signing given that Villa already had a solid option in that role with Buendia – who they forked out £38m for in the summer of 2021. Therefore, this may well be a big lesson for Wes Edens to not just sign players based on a short loan spell and their past achievements, as it clearly has not worked out as planned thus far.