Aston Villa playmaker Philippe Coutinho is ‘very important’ says Unai Emery, as he prepares his squad for what will be a gruelling upcoming campaign.
The Villa boss made no secret of his desire to take us back to Europe and to win trophies upon his arrival last year, and having achieved the first of those objectives with a place in the Europa Conference League this season, provided we come through the playoff round, we’ll look to compete on multiple fronts this year.
That in turn will mean a significant amount of games, and in order to maintain that competitiveness and have enough quality to overcome different challenges, Villa need a squad capable of coping with it.
While we’ve bolstered our attacking options this week with the signing of Moussa Diaby, that has increased the competition in the final third along with Ollie Watkins and Emiliano Buendia, and there have been question marks raised over Coutinho’s future at the club.
According to CBS Sports earlier this month, Steven Gerrard was keen on another reunion with the Brazilian international having taken charge at Al Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia, and should a significant offer arrive from them, it remains to be seen if Villa would be tempted into a sale.
The 31-year-old was highly influential when he initially arrived on loan from Barcelona, but after his move was made permanent, he struggled last season with injuries and for form, as he managed just one goal and no assists in 22 appearances. Coupled with his wages, age and injury history, it could arguably make more sense to move him on now if we get a chance to do so.
Despite that though, Emery is seemingly planning to utilise him this season, having been denied the chance to see how key a role he could play in his system and style of play, with Coutinho missing the last 15 games of last season due to injury problems.
“Of course [he has a role to play], he is very important with the new season we are going to face and one more competition, but we still need to play two matches to get through and hopefully we do,” he told VillaTV.
“If we are going to play a lot of matches, we must manage the squad and the minutes of the players while remaining competitive and efficient.” It doesn’t matter who, the most important thing is to have every player ready for the tournaments.”
Things could happen between now and the end of the transfer window, but with Coutinho on our pre-season tour in the United States and looking healthy and fit to play, it will be intriguing to see whether he can make a substantial contribution to confirm his role in our plans.
If he can produce some impressive performances in our next friendlies against Newcastle United, Brentford, and Fulham, as well as stay fit and avoid any further injury setbacks, he might still play a vital role in our season under Emery.
