According to the confirmation of a number of football journalists in the United Kingdom and Spain, Barca's historical champion Coutinho will leave the team in this winter transfer window and return to the Premier League. Judging from the latest news, Coutinho will leave Barca as soon as today, and the new owner of the Brazilian international will be Aston Villa, coached by Gerrard.
The reason why Aston Villa was able to win the Coutinho battle (Newcastle, Tottenham, Liverpool all want to loan the star) is because of Gerrard, the legendary Liverpool captain is currently teaching at Aston Villa, and he personally called the Brazilian star, allowing Coutinho to finally make a choice.
As the team's historical champion, Barça is actually willing to send Coutinho away in the case of the decline in the strength of the team and the limited competitiveness of the lineup, which shows how unpopular the 29-year-old Brazilian star is in Barca.
Of course, there is another important reason why Barca are in a hurry to send Coutinho, the team's historical champion, because after he vacated the position, he could allow the club's striker Ferrantores, who signed from Manchester City in the winter window, to register smoothly. Spanish media "Corbe Radio" revealed that Coutinho's joining Aston Villa has become a foregone conclusion, the only uncertainty is the transaction model, Barcelona hope to add a buyout clause to the loan contract, but Villa hopes to put the buyout matter at the end of the season.
Four years back, on January 6, 2018, also in the winter transfer window, Barca spent a total of 160 million euros to bring the Brazilian international from Anfield to Camp Nou in a record-setting transfer fee. As the most expensive star in the history of Barca, Coutinho was naturally pinned on high hopes, but the Brazilian never met everyone's expectations, and was even once loaned by Barca to Bayern. In fact, looking back at Coutinho's Barca career, the Brazilian star has contributed 25 goals and 14 assists to the team in 100 games for the team, which is not too bad from the data point of view, but he has never been able to carry the banner of Barca, coupled with continuous injuries, and finally made Barca make the decision to give up.
The team that sold Coutinho Odewupp took the transfer fee of about 160 million euros and introduced Van Dijk and Alisson in the transfer market. The Transfer Fee for the Reds to introduce these two main players adds up to the cost of selling Coutinho. It was Liverpool's success in bringing in two stars, Van Dijk and Alisson, that allowed the Reds to once again be at the top of the Champions League and lift the coveted Premier League trophy in the days that followed. There is no harm without comparison, and Barca have thrown 160 million euros on Coutinho and are now doomed to be a flop. Liverpool, on the other hand, managed to complete the revival of the team by selling Coutinho for 160 million euros!