Aston Villa have been busy in the summer transfer market and the club have confirmed the departure of another player.
After Unai Emery’s Aston Villa finished in the UEFA Champions League places, which was an extraordinary achievement, the Midlands club are set to be in for an important summer of change.
The Villains have already gone through big changes this summer with the influential Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz departing the club after a move to Juventus was agreed.
Villa, for their part, have received English winger Samuel Iling-Junior and Argentine midfielder Enzo Barrenchea as a makeweight to allow the Brazilian to move to Turin.
Villa lose another midfielder
With Luiz departing, and Nicolo Zaniolo not looking likely to make a return to Villa Park, a midfield rebuild may well be needed but a third name has now departed.
After joining from FC Barcelona, Brazilian midfielder Philippe Coutinho, previously of Liverpool and Inter Milan, moved to the Midlands under Steven Gerrard but never really made the impact that was hoped of him.
Coutinho struggled to break into the first-team under Emery and the Brazilian has made the decision to depart Villa Park and will return to Brazil at Vasco De Gama.
“It’s a feeling of great happiness. I lived abroad for a long time, so it really is a feeling of coming home, to the place where I grew up, to the place I love, the club I love”, Coutinho said as per Fabrizio Romano on X.
HITC reported last month that Villa were keen on getting Coutinho’s wages off the wage bill and terminated the midfielder’s contract.
Coutinho’s time at Villa will not be remembered fondly
For a signing that generated such excitement for fans of Villa, this has not been the rip roaring success they were perhaps hoping for.
Coutinho scored a debut goal against Manchester United back in 2022 but the move was certainly not a success and the midfielder will leave with little to no fanfare.
It’s a sad way for the midfielder’s time in England to end after he was such a success for Liverpool during the back end of the 2010s.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
