It was in the summer of 2018, just six months after joining Barcelona for £142 million, that it started going wrong for Philippe Coutinho – following a game that he did not even play in.
Signed in the January transfer window, there was little indication in those early days that Coutinho’s dream move to Barcelona would turn so sour. Indeed, a run of seven goals in Barça’s final six games as they cruised to the title – which they won by 14 points – seemed to show a player adapting admirably to the Catalan hot-house.
But the storm clouds over the club which would eventually engulf Coutinho were already gathering. While Barcelona eased to domestic honours, the defining moment in their season was their Champions League quarter-final humiliation against Roma.
A 4-1 home win in the first leg was followed up by a bruising 3-0 defeat in Italy which saw Ernesto Valverde’s side eliminated on away goals. Coutinho had played for Liverpool in the competition earlier in the season and so was cup tied for the game. But the decisions made by Valverde in the aftermath would have major implications for their record signing.
That summer, Valverde resolved to switch to a 4-3-3 formation, moving away from the 4-2-3-1 in which Coutinho had looked so comfortable, cutting in from the left as he did at Liverpool. In doing so, Valverde believed the Brazilian could become the new Andrés Iniesta. Valverde was wrong.
As his ability to get forward was compromised, Coutinho’s performances started to nosedive. Barcelona fans turned on their record buy. By that April, a year on from the Roma defeat, Coutinho scored in the 3-0 win over Manchester United in the quarter-finals – and celebrated by sticking his fingers in his ears. The message was clear: you can jeer all you like.
And jeer they did. The whistles that greeted his hostile celebration – in Barcelona’s great moment of Champions League redemption – showed that this was a relationship which could not be salvaged.
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That year, history was to be repeated for Barcelona in the semi-finals. Taking a 3-0 advantage into their second leg with Liverpool they somehow contrived to lose the tie, this time outright, thanks to a 4-0 defeat at Anfield.
Influential Catalan paper AS branded Coutinho “invisible” in the game and he would soon disappear out of view completely.
His extraordinary price tag meant a loan move was the only realistic option as Barcelona sought to move him on and Bayern Munich duly obliged. A Champions League winners’ medal followed but his time in Germany was far from a resounding success and the Bavarians did not exercise their option to make his move permanent.
A frantic search to find a buyer began with the board at the Nou Camp making it clear they wanted their record buy off their books. An unlikely saviour arrived, however, in the form of Ronald Koeman, the former Everton manager who arrived in August 2020 and fought Coutinho’s corner.
Koeman’s intervention earned Coutinho a reprieve and, as unlikely as it had seemed when he was bombed out of the club the previous summer, the Brazilian was restored to the starting line up. Fate, though, had other ideas. A knee injury in December 2021, just as Coutinho was starting to establish himself in the side, would rule him out for the rest of the season. The comeback was over.
Out went Koeman and in came Xavi, who did play Coutinho but only out of necessity, rather than admiration.
It has been clear for some time that Coutinho is expendable and that the club were open to offers to one of their highest earners as they scramble to balance the books. His departure will go some way to helping fund the £52m purchase of Ferran Torres.
It has been a punishing four years for both Coutinho and Barcelona. Their demise is intertwined, Coutinho failing to live up to the price tag which is held up as an example of the club’s wild largesse. The Barcelona that Coutinho departs today sits fifth in La Liga, 15 points off Real Madrid.
Yet all is not lost for Coutinho. He returns to a league where he played his best football. Physically, he is in better shape than in his Liverpool days. Mentally, with the support of his former team-mate Steven Gerrard, Aston Villa is likely to provide a far more productive environment than the Nou Camp.
As a 16-year-old, Coutinho caught the eye of international scouts at the Costa Brava tournament alongside his close friend Neymar. Years later, he arrived at Barça to replace him. Their paths have since diverged; now Coutinho has a chance to show he still belongs at football’s top table.