Arsenal eyeing move to sign Barcelona star this summer

Arsenal are claimed to be following the progress of Philippe Coutinho after he joined Aston Villa on loan from Barcelona last month.

The Brazilian has hit the ground running on his Premier League return, having endured a rocky time since leaving Liverpool in January 2018.

It hasn’t been all doom and gloom however, winning the Champions League on top of a domestic double with Bayern Munich during a 12-month stay on loan, but for whatever reason it just didn’t click at Barca.

While he was linked with a number of clubs in recent windows, including Arsenal, he eventually agreed to join former team-mate Steven Gerrard at Villa, where he is already shining despite limited first-team football this season.

His progress will not have gone unnoticed, especially by English clubs who may have believed that he would never return to the kind of form that he showed at Anfield previously, with him already looking like he would improve the starting line-ups of most (if not all) teams in the division.

The Villains are believed to have included an option to buy in his loan deal, which gives them an advantage in their pursuit of his signature, but Fichajes insists that Arsenal and West Ham are looking to try their hand at signing him come the summer.

The only issue with signing Coutinho is that his main positions are ones which we are already comfortable in. We currently have Emile Smith Rowe forced to sit on the bench. That being said, there is a question mark over where Mikel Arteta sees Gabi Martinelli’s future, with some claiming he could well be viewed for a move to centre-forward, while Nicolas Pepe’s place in the squad is likely to come into question if he can’t force his way into the manager’s first-team plans this term also.

Would Arsenal really consider breaking their recent transfer policy for Coutinho? Should we?

Patrick

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