On January 7, Beijing time, Barca officially announced that Coutinho joined Aston Villa on loan until the end of the season, and the contract included a buyout option. After a four-year absence from the Premier League, can the former "Red Army Magician" be reborn at Vera?
The winter window has been open for more than a week, and although the Premier League transfer market is not yet lively, it has been made out of no small noise. For example, Coutinho's return, although it is a loan, can be after all, it was once a "top star" who sold to 120 million euros plus 40 million floating clauses, and his transfer should inevitably be classified as "big news". It's just that the 29-year-old Brazilian's new home is not the top six, and Villa is only 13th in the league table. This makes people even more curious: how did the former "Red Army magician" be reborn in the middle and lower reaches of the Premier League?
Obviously, Brazilians also make choices to continue their careers or even to make a comeback. According to British media such as Sky Sports, there was far more than one club that originally intended to invite Coutinho, and there are six teams in the Premier League alone, including Tottenham Hotspur and the Brazilian's old club Liverpool. This rumor may not be accurate from the current point of view, there are some exaggerated elements, but Coutinho still "has a choice", he has long revealed privately: his next move will be purely based on football reasons (not treatment, fame, etc.) to make decisions.
At Villa, Coutinho can get more playing time. For the down-and-out star, who has scored 26 goals in only 106 games in all competitions for Barca in the past four and a half years, and has 11 goals in 38 games for Bayern in the Bundesliga, this is the best medicine for injury. The point is also to reassure the Brazilian that he is the same big brother who took care of him at Liverpool many years ago – former Reds captain and current Villa manager Gerrard is very fond of this junior, and even predicted in his autobiography in 2015: "Liverpool really should cherish Philippe (Coutinho), I believe he is becoming Liverpool's main player and the top player in world football." ”
So after the passage of time, can the big brother of the year pull the little brother to let him get out of the trough or even return to the top level? The wish is undoubtedly to get a positive answer, as former Crystal Palace player Clinton Morrison put it in the BBC programme: "This is a very good signing considering gerrard and Coutinho's close relationship and friendship. Gerrard, who used to play with Coutinho, understands the latter's abilities, and the latter has the opportunity to take Villa to the next level. While Coutinho barely showed his best after leaving Liverpool, the 29-year-old still has a lot to contribute. ”
However, there are two sides to everything, and the loan deal has been rejected by some people, and many people have maintained a skeptical view. For example, Spanish star Baragues once said that Coutinho may not be able to improve Villa's grade, because the current situation of the Brazilian is actually not too different from this middle and lower-down team, "no longer belongs to the first-class". At the same time, Barague also believes that Coutinho's best choice is actually to return to Brazil, and playing in his hometown is easier for him to regain his confidence, on the contrary, the fast-paced and high-intensity Premier League is no longer suitable for Brazilians who have not been able to play the main force for a long time.
Of course, this is only an argument, in fact, Coutinho has been in European football for a long time, and his style is more established in the Premier League, and it is reasonable to go back to the "second home" to find a feeling.
Regarding Villa's loan of Coutinho, it is interesting to note here that after the team changed coaches in November last year, the primary target of the winter window reinforcements that was originally expected was not the frontcourt attacker. After taking over the squad left by former coach Dean Smith, Gerrard's view is that the team has good potential, but many areas need to be upgraded, mainly full-backs and defenders in the middle.
Under such a premise, Villa first made a loan attacking big name drama, which is somewhat "encountered with promotions so buy for the sake of buying" feeling. But if you think about it, the Risks taken by the Premier League team don't seem to be particularly large, although paying Coutinho's "most salary" (some say 65% of the original salary standard) is also a significant expense, and the buyout clause is also worth 33 million pounds, almost equaling the highest unit price in the history of the team, but it is not a mandatory clause. In other words, if brazilians can't recover, Vera can also return them.
From the current situation, coach Gerrard must also need a higher level of offensive players. In Su Chao, the Glasgow Rangers he coached were passing the flow and high pressing, which was both a model of Guardiola and a bit of klopp. After coming to Villa, limited by objective conditions, the young marshal could only take the route of stabilizing the fence first, and the average possession rate per game was only about 40%, which was not a long-term solution. With Coutinho, Villa were able to line up a frontcourt combination that looked like it was a decent level: the arrows were England international Watkins or Ince, and the three wingmen behind them included the most expensive Argentine Buendia in the team's history, the former Bundesliga Bayer Leverkusen Sharp Berry and the "Mr. Billion" from Barca.
But theory does not equal practice, the problem is that in addition to Coutinho, who has not yet played for Villa, the other two "famous wingmen" are not in a very ideal situation at Villa. Among them, Buendia shined in the Championship Norwich last season, but he entered the role very slowly after the high-priced transfer, and it was not until Gerrard entered the club that he began to be evaluated by the British media as "gradually recovering his form". In addition to adapting to the new environment in The United Kingdom, Pele also has to face injury troubles, so his current situation in the Premier League has become more of a substitute than a starter.
In addition, in the early 4 rounds of 3 wins in the early stage of the appointment, Gerrard's 433 formation is more equipped with 3 midfielders with considerable defensive ability, Nakamba, Douglas Luiz, including McKinn, who has contributed a lot on the offensive end, can actually play the back, only the young jakob Ramsey is a type of attacking midfielder in the 4 options. If, according to the speculation of some British media, Gerrard placed Coutinho in the back position to play the "No. 8" to promote the attack, then whether this will break the original balance of the team's midfield will also be a question. It is worth mentioning that since the excellent defensive champion Nakamba was seriously injured against Liverpool, Villa only won the bottom team Norwich, and suffered defeats against Chelsea and Brentford.
To sum up, if Coutinho and Gerald's reunion is to have a happy outcome, it is obvious that more than just a "brotherly heart" is enough. Villa's manager has tactical problems to solve, and the brazilian, who has been degenerate for a long time, needs to redouble his efforts. At the same time, Coutinho, who was just infected by the virus at the end of last year, has to try to avoid being eroded by injuries again. He has suffered a lot in this regard over the past few years, and with only half of the premier league left this season, there is really not much time for him to waste.
Wen | Yan Yu
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