Unai Emery once praised Philippe Coutinho as the Aston Villa playmaker hopes for better fortunes under his new manager.
The last few days have been a real rollercoaster for Villa fans.
The 3-0 defeat at Fulham was an absolute shambles and angry fans voiced their belief that Steven Gerrard should go.
Before Thursday night was out, Gerrard was gone as Villa pulled the trigger.
Villa then went and hammered Brentford 4-0 on Sunday afternoon before a new manager was confirmed out of nowhere.
Unai Emery once praised Philippe Coutinho
There had been murmurings about a move for Emery in the hour before Villa suddenly announced his arrival at 8pm.
Villa have paid the release clause in Emery’s Villarreal contract and he will be the replacement for Gerrard.
Emery has managed in the Premier League before but his time at Arsenal was something of a disappointment.
The Spaniard will now be looking to prove himself in England with Villa – and one of his big tasks is to unlock Philippe Coutinho.
Coutinho showed quality in his loan spell from Barcelona as he featured under former Liverpool teammate Gerrard.
Villa pulled off a permanent deal in the summer but Coutinho has been a flop so far.
The Brazilian playmaker hasn’t registered a goal or assist in 541 Premier League minutes this season.
Emery must now figure out whether he wants to build with Coutinho or try and offload him in 2023.
Emery has though offered a verdict on Coutinho in recent times, telling The Sun in 2019 that he felt the attacking midfielder was a ‘splendid player’.
That was when Arsenal were linked with signing Coutinho but the Gunners didn’t strike a deal.
Three years on, Coutinho is one of the problems that Emery must solve at Aston Villa and if he really thinks the Brazilian is ‘splendid’, we may well see him back in the Villa starting lineup soon.
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