Philippe Coutinho wants to play in the Champions League with Aston Villa
Philippe Coutinho has shared his ambition to play Champions League with Aston Villa after making his stay permanent at the club.
After originally arriving on loan from Barcelona in the January transfer window, he signed on a permanent deal for just £17.2million and reportedly took a 70% pay cut to make the move happen (Mirror).
The decision was heavily influenced by former Liverpool teammate and current manager Steven Gerrard, and the pair are both now aiming for European football at Villa Park.
In an interview with The Times the 29-year-old said: “I’m ambitious, so is the club and so are the players. Of course the big objective is to help the club to get back into Europe and I think that’s possible.”
On the prospect of translating that into participation in Europes premier competition he said: “Anything is possible in football… We have great staff, great players with some experience and some young players and that mix is very good.
And of his manager he added: “All I can say is that he’s very ambitious, he’s a great leader and he wants to win, like me and like the other players. We’re ambitious for the future and we’ll do everything to achieve good things and I think we will.”
Aiming high
For a player of his calibre, and a manager not so long removed from a playing career of a similar standard, it is no surprise they want to see the club back at the top.
It has been a long time since the Villans were in Europe full stop, featuring in the UEFA Cup in 2008/09 in the final year before it’s rebrand to become the Europa League.
The club hasn’t been at the top table since the year after they won the European Cup, reaching the quarter final as holders in 1982/83.
But both Gerrard and Coutinho were Champions League regulars at Anfield, with the ex-Reds captain famously lifting the trophy himself in 2005, while the former Barcelona man won it on loan at Bayern Munich two years ago.
It is going to be some climb if they make it happen, as for all the manager’s ambition this season, knocking about in the bottom half of the league is not going to cut it.
His star power has pulled off a major coup in attracting his former teammate to the club at an affordable price, and he is surely hoping to continue in that vein during the summer.
But he and the club’s owners will be expecting a lot more next season, and they could start by making a statement at Manchester City in the final day of the season.
In other Aston Villa news, Michael Owen has predicted the result at the Etihad on Sunday (22 May).