Philippe Coutinho’s struggles since leaving Liverpool in January 2018 are well-documented.
Having failed in efforts to force through a dream move to Barcelona the previous summer, he resisted Jurgen Klopp’s attempts to persuade him to stay at Anfield in favour of completing a club-record £142m switch to Camp Nou.
But while he’d win two La Liga titles with the Catalans, he’d prove to be an expensive flop. Loaned to Bayern Munich in 2019/20 after falling out of favour, his fortunes didn’t improve. While he would win a German treble with the Bundesliga giants, he was reduced to a bit-part role as the Bavarians decided against signing him permanently.
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Stuck back at Barcelona as his dream move became even more of a nightmare, he was then belatedly ‘rescued’ by Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard in January 2022 after the Brazilian joined Aston Villa on loan. The Villans would then sign him permanently in a £17m deal last summer.
But you already know all that. It has been told countless times, after all, with Coutinho’s struggles going hand-in-hand with Liverpool’s rise to being crowned champions of England, Europe, and the world, winning every major honour on offer following his departure.
There was a time when Reds supporters would have loved the Brazilian to return to Anfield. Maybe, given Liverpool’s current woes in midfield, if he hadn’t struggled so much in recent years, there would have even been some urging Klopp to re-sign him in January. Instead, his decline has ultimately seen him fall off Kopite radars. As good as he was on Merseyside, he has long since been a shadow of his former self.
And with Gerrard losing his job at Villa Park last October, Coutinho’s fortunes have fallen even further. A hamstring injury would see him miss the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and while he would return to fitness in time for the Premier League restart, he has failed to start in the English top-flight under new manager Unai Emery.
His only start under the Spaniard came in Villa’s embarrassing 2-1 defeat to League Two Stevenage in the FA Cup. Meanwhile, he has been limited to 91 minutes of Premier League action across five substitute appearances, with half of that coming when he came on at half-time in a 1-1 draw with Wolves. He has been limited to late cameos in the rest of his outings.
Boasting 19 appearances in all competitions this season, Coutinho has started eight times with only six coming in the Premier League. Completing a full 90 minutes just once, he has returned no goals and no assists - a far cry from his days topping both charts at Anfield.
When the 30-year-old joined Villa permanently, he signed a contract until 2026. Meanwhile, he’s reportedly one of the Villans’ highest earners on £125k a week. Yet despite the January transfer window closing earlier this week, he could still be moved on little over six months until that contract.
Corinthians were interested in bringing the playmaker back to Brazil on loan, and were reportedly negotiating with Aston Villa and the player's representation.
Club president Duilio Monteiro Alves was quoted saying: “The contact exist and the desire is there, but it is a very difficult deal. We want the player on loan, but while the transfer window in Europe is open, everything is very difficult. It is still a very premature operation but we have to try.”
Ultimately, such a switch would fail to materialise in January. Sky Sports reported that Coutinho had no interest in returning to Brazil, while it was claimed by Goal that Corinthians would struggle to finance a deal regardless with Villa wanting a transfer fee rather than a loan and the playmaker’s wages proving to be too high. As a result, Globo reported the Brazilian side had ‘thrown in the towel’ earlier this week.
However, Coutinho could still move on according to his agent, Kia Joorabchian, with the Brazilian transfer window remaining open until April 4. Goal report he has claimed a switch to Corinthians could even still happen.
Meanwhile, when asked if his client could still return to Brazil, he told Globo: “We will see! There is still a long way to go in the Brazilian market. Let’s see what happens.”
Joorabchian has close ties to Corinthians, having been a former manager of the MSI group, who were founded to partner with the Brazilian club between 2004 and 2007. Such connections saw them sign both Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, before the pair moved to West Ham United.
Yet despite his agent’s claims, Coutinho seemingly has little desire to return to his homeland at this time, having not played in Brazil since leaving Vasco da Gama as an 18-year-old to join Inter Milan. Either way, the fact that such a move was even suggested for the 30-year-old, having now flopped at Aston Villa, shows how far he has fallen since leaving Liverpool behind.
“Stay here and they will end up building a statue in your honour," Klopp warned Coutinho back in 2017. "Go somewhere else, to Barcelona, to Bayern Munich, to Real Madrid, and you will be just another player. Here you can be something more."
Five years on from his Anfield exit, perhaps he will wish that he had listened to such advice with the likes of Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino all cementing their place as Liverpool legends in his absence. And while Klopp’s Reds are in transition with such a generation of players now ageing and starting to decline, they have already done more than enough to show Coutinho what could have been.
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