Philippe Coutinho will miss out on a reunion with former club Liverpool this weekend after Aston Villa manager Unai Emery confirmed that the Brazilian will miss the rest of the Premier League season.
The 30-year-old joined Barcelona from the Reds in a club-record £142m deal in January 2018, but ultimately struggled at Camp Nou. After Bayern Munich decided against signing the playmaker permanently following a season-long loan in 2019/20, he continued to make sporadic appearances for the Catalans before Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard brought his former team-mate to Aston Villa on loan in January 2022.
Coutinho impressed enough for Villa last year for the move to be made permanently, signing from Barcelona for £17m, but he has ultimately struggled for form during an injury-plagued campaign this time around. With Gerrard sacked in October and replaced by Unai Emery, the Brazilian has been limited to just 22 appearances, registering just one goal and no assists.
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Starting just nine times, injury would also rule him out of the World Cup for Brazil, and while he would return as a substitute in Villa’s 3-1 home defeat to Liverpool on Boxing Day, he hasn't featured since scoring in the Villans' 4-2 loss at the hands of Arsenal in February because of injury.
Coutinho would return to the Villa matchday squad against Wolves earlier this month. But since that unused substitute appearance, he has suffered a fresh setback, with Emery confirming the 30-year-old won’t play again this season as a result.
“Philippe Coutinho is still injured, and the other players are ready to play,” Emery told reporters ahead of his side’s trip to Liverpool for the penultimate game of the season. “I talked with him this week; he’s a little bit unlucky with his month because I didn’t see him play matches like I want.
“But, of course, with the injuries coming, we have to be patient as well, now we are going to wait for his recovery. This year, he’s not going to play again until the end of this season because we are finishing in two weeks.”
Meanwhile, the Spaniard confirmed he expects the rest of his squad to be available for the trip to Anfield.
“We’re going to wait for the training session tomorrow morning and if everything is going well, the players available are the same players we had last week,” he said. “Today Calum Chambers was sick but I think tomorrow he is going to be ready to try to travel with us.”
Coutinho, who scored 54 goals and recorded 43 assists for Liverpool from 201 appearances during five years with the club, has faced the Reds four times since his Anfield departure.
He featured for Aston Villa against his former club at Villa Park both this season and last season, while he started home and away for Barcelona against Liverpool in the 2019 Champions League semi-finals. As a result, the Reds’ famous 4-0 victory remains his only appearance at Anfield as an opposing player.
While Coutinho won’t feature at Anfield on Saturday, close-friend Roberto Firmino will be hopeful of making his final home appearance for Liverpool, ahead of his summer exit, after returning to team training earlier this week.
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