Official: Coutinho leaves Barça

Philippe Coutinho leaves on loan to Aston Villa of the Premier and in this way Barcelona finds the slit to be able to register Ferran Torres maintaining the salary limit of the staff.

The Blaugrana club officially announced that Coutinho will go on loan to the English team, which he will take over a part of the Brazilian’s file, until the end of the season. At the end of this season, Aston Villa could exercise a purchase option. To give more intrigue to the matter, Barça informs that the agreement it will only be closed when the footballer passes the medical examination and receives the work permit in England. This morning Coutinho has flown to Birmingham.

Therefore, the possible participation of Ferran Torres in tomorrow’s game against Granada is pending from the British bureaucracy and that the Brazilian passes the medical check-up. If everything goes as expected by the Barcelona club, Xavi could make Ferran Torres debut against Granada.

Steven Gerrard has been a key figure, as he has even publicly shown his admiration for the playmaker. “They call him for something the magician”, He said. In the Premier he continues to have a great poster after being a star in Klopp’s Liverpool and returning to England has outweighed accepting any of the proposals that have come from Brazil.

One of the keys that has made the transfer agreement crystallize has been the World Cup in Qatar. The playmaker dreams of being part of the list of Tite for such an important appointment and he knows that at Barça his options were reduced to a minimum. Koeman trusted him last year, but he got injured and the same thing happened with Xavi. At the club they have not believed in him for a long time and his departure is essential to lighten the salary burden of the battered Barca coffers.

Coutinho arrived in January 2018, becoming the most expensive signing in the club’s history and one of the highest salaries, along with Piqué, Busquets and Umtiti. A major problem if its sporting incidence is taken into account. This year he has played 16 games, but has only started five, adding 608 minutes in which he has collaborated with two goals.

Hope for Ferran

It is the second time that a loan appears as a solution, since the 2019-20 season has already passed at Bayern. In Munich, despite not convincing, fattened his showcase and was Barça’s own executioner in the sounded 2-8 of the quarterfinals of the Champions League, where he collaborated with a double and an assist. Aston Villa has been the one who has shown the most interest at all times and the operation has accelerated in the last hours. The registration of Ferran Torres depended on releasing salaries such as that of Cou and in Can Barça they have pressed the accelerator. Now there is hope that the winger can play the Super Cup.