With Aston Villa having qualified for the Champions League, manager Unai Emery will understand that he can’t have any passengers in his squad in 2024/25.
The Villains, just like Newcastle last season, are likely to be stretched to the limit in terms of personnel and fitness issues, so the club need players that are at the top of their game and willing to put it all on the line in every match.
Emery has shown over the past season or so that he has the managerial tools to inspire and educate what is an exciting and experienced group of players, and now they need to deliver for him.
Coutinho to leave Aston Villa imminently
One who never really did that was Philippe Coutinho, the joint fifth most expensive signing of all time according to Goal.
The Brazilian’s form has dipped to such an extent that he spent the 2023/24 campaign at Al Duhail in Qatar, and he’s now looking to move on again given that it’s clear he has no part to play in the Emery revolution at Villa Park.
According to Brazilian journalist, Lucas Pedrosa, writing on X (formerly Twitter), Coutinho is close to a move back to the club where it all started for him, Vasco da Gama.
?? NOVIDADES SOBRE COUTINHO
O Vasco já tem uma data para a apresentação do meia e também um planejamento para que ele possa estrear com a camisa do Cruz-Maltino. No momento o clube aguarda a documentação do meia para anunciar e também iniciar a preparação do atleta no CT Moacyr… pic.twitter.com/PoojYyL2wz
— Lucas Pedrosa (@pedrosa) July 2, 2024
Pedrosa notes that the Brazilian outfit are trying to arrange everything in order that the 32-year-old can be unveiled on July 13 at the latest.
They are currently awaiting his paperwork from Aston Villa, and it’s believed that this won’t be a problem, it’s purely a matter of time.
For Coutinho himself, the move back home will bring the curtain down on a career that saw him play for some of the most storied clubs in the world – Liverpool and Barcelona.
His form ever since has unfortunately seen his career nosedive, to the extent that Villa even considered writing off the two remaining years of his contract, per Birmingham Live.