The Brazilian midfielder Philippe Coutinho is looking up for a Premier League return this summer to Everton. According to reports, Everton are keen on signing Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona. This is due to James Rodriguez wanting to leave England this summer.
Everton will be taking advantage of the excellent relations with Barcelona for signing Coutinho. Ancelotti is a fan of the Brazilian and has already given the green light to add the former Liverpool player to his team.
With Barcelona looking at the chance of offloading Coutinho after a flop transfer. It would be easy for Everton to sign the player in the summer transfer window. Coutinho is also attracted by the prospect of playing under Ancelotti. He also has ambitions to see Everton fight for silverware and become competitive in Europe for years to come.
Everton want an initial loan deal for Coutinho that carries an option to buy. Or they want a deal this summer that would see payment spread over the next two or three years.
Coutinho’s hard life at Barcelona
After his amazing performance for Liverpool, Barcelona bought the Brazilian midfielder to improve their attacking play for a record signing of £140million in 2018. However, since his joining, he has not been convincing for Barcelona. And now it has been a burden for Barcelona to carry Coutinho in their team.
As it stands, his expensive transfer has generally been considered a failure. Coutinho has scored only 24 goals in 90 appearances for Barcelona in all competitions. He has felt out of place and underappreciated at the Camp Nou, which has been beset by controversy and infighting in recent years
It has also been a financial burden for the club as they were forced to pay Liverpool £4million after his first 25 appearances. They also had to pay a bonus of £5million to Liverpool as he won the champions league with Bayern Munich.
With vast midfield choice for Koeman, it is clear that Coutinho is a part of Barcelona’s game plan. They are also keen to get off Coutinho before he hits 100 games for them, as it will be triggering another £20million payment to Liverpool.
Everton the ideal destination for Coutinho?
Everton has improved a lot since Carlo Ancelotti took over the manager position. They are currently sitting in 8th in the Premier League and fighting hard for the Europa League Qualification.
Ancelotti has improved the gameplay of Everton a lot with some big signings such as James Rodriguez and Allan. However, now he has to worry as James Rodriguez is set to leave the club this summer.
With Rodriguez set to leave, Ancelotti sees to replace him with Coutinho from Barcelona to strengthen his attacking midfield. Signing Coutinho could be a risk as he hasn’t performed at a very high level over the few years and he has also suffered massively due to injuries.
But he knows the Premier League well as he has been one of the league’s best players while at Liverpool. And Ancelotti also believes he could get the best out of Coutinho as he managed to get out of Rodriguez.
It would be interesting to see where Coutinho would fit into Carlo Ancelotti’s 4-4-2 system, but he would likely play in from the left flank, providing Everton with creativity and a real goal threat from midfield with Gylfi Sigurdsson’s influence fading.
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