In the 26th round of La Liga, Spain ushered in the national derby, and Barca traveled to the Santiago Bernabeu stadium to challenge Real Madrid. The two teams have met twice this season, the first leg of the league Real Madrid won 2:1 away to Barca, the Spanish Super Cup match Real Madrid defeated Barca 3:2, the result of this game Real Madrid in their own home 0:4 to Barca. After the game, the Barça coach posted on social media that "Barca are back", and Xavi wanted to tell the outside world that Barca had come out of the shadow of Messi's departure.
In the 4-0 win over Real Madrid, Aubameyang scored twice, with Traore and Ferran Torres scoring one goal each. All three came to Barca at the winter transfer window just past, and Barca didn't spend much money, and Aubameyang still rented it for free. Compared with the excellent performance of these players who were signed at a small price, the performance of several players bought by Barca at a large price was more average, including Coutinho, Dembele and Griezmann.
Griezmann's performance of the three was OK, but it did not meet expectations. Dembele has occasionally been able to contribute to Barca, but Coutinho has not been given much opportunity to play since coming to Barca. After Neymar left in the summer of 2017, Barca bought Dembele first, and then Coutinho in January 2018, with a transfer fee of 135 million euros, and Coutinho has not been able to perform as expected since joining Barca.
In the summer of 2019, Barca loaned Coutinho to Bayern, making 38 appearances in a season at Bayern, contributing 11 goals and 9 assists, in fact, this statistic is OK, but the buyout fee is too high, and Coutinho's salary is not low, so Bayern did not buy out Coutinho. Coutinho, who returned to Barca, was not allowed to play for a long time, but Barca still had to pay him a high salary, so cleaning Coutinho has always been an important task for Barca.
With no one in the market, Barca can only reduce their salary expenses for Coutinho on loan. In January this year, Barca loaned Coutinho to Premier League side Aston Villa, and after returning to the Premier League, Coutinho's performance improved, contributing 4 goals and 3 assists in 10 games, and his outstanding performance attracted the attention of Premier League giants Arsenal. According to the Daily Sports, The Sun and other media reports, Arsenal intend to introduce Coutinho this summer.
If Arsenal can sign Coutinho, it will be a new life for Coutinho. Now Arsenal under Arteta's leadership to rank 4th in the Premier League table in one round, next season not only has the Champions League to play, but also to compete for the Premier League title. Coutinho was once a core player of Liverpool, and originally thought that joining Barca was another step up in his career, but he did not expect that he would sink when he arrived at Barca.
Although he is now playing in the Premier League and can get a stable playing time, Aston Villa is only a mid-level and lower-level team after all, and there is no Chance to win the Champions League. Now Arsenal have thrown an olive branch at him, and rejoining the Premier League giants is a new life for Coutinho. If Arsenal sign Coutinho, Barca will naturally be very happy, because they will no longer have to pay Coutinho's salary.
Coutinho is happy, Barca is happy, but someone is unhappy, and that is Aston Villa's manager Gerald. Coutinho was able to play extremely well under Gerrard's tactical system. Gerrard is very hopeful that Aston Villa will buy out Coutinho this summer, because such a good striker is not a good deal for a team like Aston Villa, and to get Coutinho is also a leak.
Now Arsenal's intention to sign Coutinho is not a good thing for Gerrard, which will make it more difficult for Aston Villa to buy out Coutinho. If Coutinho leaves, it will be very difficult to buy a striker of Coutinho's level with the financial resources of Aston's future. But Gerrard doesn't have to worry too much, because Coutinho may not be willing to go to Arsenal, because when it comes to Arsenal, what if he is reduced to a substitute again?