Joe Thomlinson of the Saturday Social on Sky Sports has confessed that he would sell Philippe Coutinho if he were in charge at Aston Villa.
Coutinho arrived on loan back in January and impressed with five goals and three assists in 19 Premier League appearances.
As a result, Villa were enticed to pay a reported £17m to bring in Steven Gerrard’s ex-teammate from Barcelona but the Brazilian has been a shadow of the player that arrived initially at Villa Park.
He signed a contract until 2026 worth £125k-per-week, making him the club’s third-highest earner, but with Gerrard now gone, Thomlinson wonders what’s next for the 30-year-old.
Speaking on the Football Daily YouTube channel he said:
“This deal looks a little bit bleak right now. In the post-Steven Gerrard world, where does Philippe Coutinho fit into an Unai Emery system?
“Now, I’m not saying Unai Emery won’t utilise him because I think he will, but if a club came in tomorrow with an offer for Philippe Coutinho, I would sell him.
” I don’t know whether he fits into the future of the side. I would prefer to be utilising a player like Buendia, put it that way.”
TIF Thoughts on Thomlinson’s comments…
Has Coutinho been a flop at Villa?
Yes!
No!
The former Barcelona ace featured heavily under Gerrard before his removal from power but perhaps tellingly he wasn’t even introduced in the Liverpool icon’s final game in charge at Fulham last week.
Aaron Danks immediately favoured Emi Buendia for his maiden fixture as caretaker boss and only brought Coutinho on with the side 4-0 up on Brentford.
The attacking midfielder is yet to register a goal or an assist in twelve appearances across both league and cup and his position in the squad could be questioned under Unai Emery.
However, that remains to be seen and alternatively, the Spanish manager could rekindle the spark within the ex-maestro of Merseyside.