The 33-year-old’s arrival from Barcelona in January 2022, initially on loan, was a big moment for Villa in the transfer market, as despite his struggles with injury and form with the Catalan giants after his big-money move there, the Brazilian playmaker was still regarded as a real coup.
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His early form was excellent as it built on the buzz surrounding his arrival, but ultimately injuries, loss of form and falling down the pecking order under Unai Emery eventually saw him shipped out on loan over the past two seasons.
As per the [club’s official statement](https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2025/july/04/Coutinho-departs-for-Vasco-Da-Gama/), a deal has been done for Coutinho to depart on a permanent basis to join Vasco after spending last season on loan with the Brazilian side, and so we wish him the best of luck moving forward.
The Brazilian international ends his time with Villa after making 43 appearances, scoring six goals and providing three assists.
It’s a crucial piece of business from a Villa perspective, as with Coutinho still being one of the highest earners at the club and with 12 months remaining on his contract, he was still draining our resources at a time when we’re trying to reduce our wage bill to ensure we comply with UEFA’s SCR regulations.
While it’s unlikely to solve the issue entirely for us, it will hopefully be an important step towards being compliant over the next year or two, and it might also give us additional financial flexibility to bring in reinforcements on lesser wages to strengthen Emery’s squad with options that suit his ideas moving forward.
As noted above, the signing of Coutinho was a bit of a breakthrough moment for Villa in terms of the market where the club could now shop in, and it perhaps opened the door for some of those who followed to be convinced by our project and for those already at the club to stay and keep building with us. In turn, although it ultimately didn’t play out in the most ideal of ways after those initial few months during his loan spell, it was still an important acquisition and hopefully with his departure now we can continue to go from strength to strength.
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