Aston Villa managed to sign one of the most highly-rated midfielders in the league this summer, acquiring Amadou Onana from Everton for £50m. Douglas Luiz was a midfielder sold by the Villans this summer, joining Juventus in a £42.35m deal.
Onana made 37 appearances for Everton last season in all competitions, scoring three goals, providing one assist and contributing to 11 clean sheets in his 2,698 minutes played.
Many top clubs were linked with a move for Onana, including the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal, but Villa managed to beat them to the coup.
The Belgian is now seen as Villa’s second most valuable player (£42.2m) according to Transfermarkt, with the most valuable being Ollie Watkins, valued at (around £55m).
That said, it’s still not as much as a certain Philippe Coutinho’s whose career has taken a nosedive in the last few years.
Philippe Coutinho’s record at Villa
Coutinho joined Aston Villa from Barcelona in 2022 for a fee of around £17m, having already spent six months on loan with the Villans from January that year during the 2021/22 campaign.
The Brazilian made 43 appearances for Villa in all competitions, scoring six goals, providing three assists, and totalling 2,296 minutes for the club.
Coutinho is now out on loan with Vasco de Gama in Brazil, having spent some time last season on loan with Al-Duhail SC, playing in the Qatar Stars League, making 16 appearances and scoring three goals.
Coutinho’s market value over time
Once described as a “magical” player by Liverpool and Brazil teammate, Roberto Firmino, Coutinho’s value peaked at a staggering £126m according to Transfermarkt, after joining Barcelona from Liverpool back in 2018. This is more than double the value of £55m-rated Watkins and goes to show just how highly he was rated prior to signing for Villa.
Coutinho has played for some of the best teams in the world, having stints with Liverpool, Barca, Inter, and Bayern Munich, along with his spells at Villa, Al-Duhail SC, Espanyol, and Vasco de Gama, his current club.
To compound his meteoric fall from grace, the Brazilian is now only valued at around £6m by Transfermarkt, as he enters the final years of his career.
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Coutinho last ten seasons comparison |
|
|---|---|
|
Season |
Goals + Assists |
|
14/15 |
14 |
|
15/16 |
19 |
|
16/17 |
23 |
|
17/18 |
36 |
|
18/19 |
16 |
|
19/20 |
20 |
|
20/21 |
5 |
|
21/22 |
10 |
|
22/23 |
1 |
|
23/24 |
12 |
|
Stats taken from Transfermarkt |
|
As you can see from Coutinho’s G/A numbers, he joined Villa on the decline, with the 2022/23 season being his worst output season over the last decade of football. He contributed just the one goal that season, scoring against Arsenal in a 4-2 defeat.
However, at the peak of his powers, you can see what the attacking midfielder offered, not just with his wizardry on the ball, but also his output, with his best season coming in 2017/18, the year he moved from Liverpool to Barcelona in January.
That term, Coutinho scored 12 times and provided eight assists for Liverpool, before also scoring a further nine goals, and providing a further seven assists for Barcelona following his move.
Despite once being a +£100m value player, Coutinho joined Villa with a value of around £16.8m, therefore his time at the club which came with flashes of brilliance, cannot be overlooked.
However, as he plays out his final years in Brazil, Villa are more than equipped in the midfield department going forwards, with new signing Onana, and Morgan Rogers taking the attacking midfield strings it seems.
