The 31-year-old has joined Qatari side Al-Duhail on a season-long loan deal after his struggles at Aston Villa came to an end.
Life at Villa started with so much promise for Philippe Coutinho, including scoring on his Premier League debut for the Midlands club against Manchester United.
But as the months started ticking by, his form slowly started going out of the window, before he really started to struggle.
That also resulted in the sacking of Steven Gerrard, and whilst Coutinho showed some very good moments under Unai Emery, he just wasn’t fit enough or injury-free to prove himself out on the pitch.
That was proven by his last appearance in Villa colours – 4-0 win over Everton – resulting in the player going off injured after coming onto the pitch as a substitute.
More than anything, the player who needed this move is Coutinho because it’s pretty clear that he can no longer operate on the European stage.
It was suggested by Fabrizio Romano on Twitter that Coutinho had the chance to return to Spain or move to Turkey, but he opted against it.
Nevermind form, it seems as though the body of the 68-cap Brazil international can longer compete with the hard-hitting nature of European football, so he has taken the option to enter a far more comfortable environment.
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has given an injury update on defender Diego Carlos.
The centre-back picked up a hamstring injury when Villa suffered a 3-0 defeat to Liverpool on September 3. Emery described the injury as a “small” one at the time, and has now given a fresh update on the 30-year-old.
Speaking after the defeat to Legia Warsaw on Thursday evening, Emery gave an injury update and confirmed when Carlos would be back in training. He stressed the importance of the other defenders in his squad, particularly given the fixture congestion created by the Europa Conference League participation.
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hinking maybe the next week he could be ready to start training with the group,” Emery said. “We can use other players with experiences like him and then we can try to play matches like we are playing, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday. We can use and practise different tactical decisions, we can play being stronger.”
Villa are back in Premier League action on Sunday when they face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge (14:00 BST). That match will come too soon for Carlos with the defender due back in group training next week. He could make the game at home to Brighton on Saturday, September 30, or perhaps the game against Zrinjski fi
