Aston Villa attacker Philippe Coutinho left out of Brazil squad
Aston Villa attacking midfielder Phillipe Coutinho has been left out of Brazil’s squad for upcoming friendlies against Ghana and Tunisia on Friday (9 September).
Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus has also failed to make the cut (via Twitter handle Selecao Brasil).
Coutinho, who has scored 21 goals in 68 international appearances for Brazil, has failed to replicate his last season’s form for Villa so far.
Needs consistency
Steven Gerrard signed Coutinho on loan from Barcelona last season, and the Brazilian took no time in settling in at his new club.
Coutinho showed his class during his time at Liverpool and Gerrard knows him very well.
This summer, Villa have made his move into a permanent one, but Coutinho, quite surprisingly, has made a slow start to the season.
Considering that Coutinho doesn’t have big competition for places as he is only sharing the number 10 role with Emi Buendia, he should be delivering for the club on a regular basis.
Brazil coach Tite has delivered a strong message for players who were dropped. He has urged the players to be physically sharp, and do their best over the course of the next 60 days if they are serious about getting a place in the national team squad.
The message for Coutinho is simple. He needs to be on top of his form if he wants to book his seat for the Qatar World Cup. At 30, this could be his last chance to represent the country at the World Cup, and it is upto him to show Tite that he hasn’t finished yet.
In other Aston Villa news, manager Steven Gerrard is very keen to bring Liverpool defender Joe Gomez to the club.