Is Philippe Coutinho the answer?

Since Barcelona needs the money and a striker, and since Arsenal desperately needs an attacking midfielder, is a swap deal between these two clubs, Philippe Coutinho for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or Alexandre Lacazette, really a good idea?

It seems Coutinho’s name pops up on the Arsenal radar every transfer window. He has had a rather “underwhelming” career since leaving Liverpool for Barcelona in January 2018 for a whopping $196-million (USD) transfer fee. Maybe Mikel Arteta and Edu think they can resurrect his career, while hoping his experience and leadership can bring something to our club that seems to be seriously lacking at the moment.

Now, if you read the recent transfer news reports, Lacazette seems to be the most likely to go, however, Aubameyang has also been rumored to be at odds with Arteta. Both players were left off the opening day roster v Brentford for being  “ill.” and, at this point in time, both are doubtful for the Chelsea match on Sunday. If they are sick, let’s wish them a speedy recovery, however, if this is just a smokescreen to cover whatever is really going on, then the club needs to clean up the mess and move on. Arsenal can not continue to fight its own demons in the locker room, while continuing to lose matches on the pitch.

Maybe, it’s really time for Philippe Coutinho to beomce a Gunner, but who is he?

His professional career began in 2009 at Vasco da Gama in Brazil. Since then he has played for Inter Milan, Espanyol, Liverpool, Barcelona and spent a year on loan at Bayern Munich. He is considered both an attacking midfielder and a winger. As a professional footballer, he has scored 104 goals in 435 appearance.

Coutinho has also served his nation well on the international scene, earning 63 caps, and scoring 18 goals for Brazil.

But at 29, is Coutinho capable of reclaiming the magic he once possessed at Liverpool?

Here’s what else we know about Philippe Coutinho…

“Due to his dribbling ability, pace and agility, he has been compared to Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho by his former Espanyol manager Mauricio Pochettino, who said, ‘Philippe has a special magic in his feet.’ He has also been been highly praised by his former Liverpool teammates, and is considered to be among the very best of a breed of skillful and versatile attacking midfielders in the world.” [courtesy of Wikipedia]

On paper, a player swap sounds good. If Coutinho can regain some of his “magic,” create more chances for goals, and provide the leadership our young players need on the pitch, then I’m all in. I’ve enjoyed both Auba and Laca’s time together at Arsenal, but their “bromance” no longer translates into goal production on the pitch like it used to.

At this point in time. Coutinho is probably our best chance to bring in a creative, attacking midfielder. Martin Odegaard is a long shot, Jame Maddison is a much longer shot, while Houssem Aouar really burned his bridge with Arsenal during the last two transfer windows.

Come on Arsenal, the clock is ticking. We need some help before the relegation pontificators begin chirping.

Gunner1953