Should Arsenal make a summer move for Philippe Coutinho to replace Martin Odegaard?

                                        

Should Mikel Arteta make a summer move to bring Philippe Coutinho to Arsenal from Barcelona?

By Adam Le Roux

The mornings are getting brighter, the evenings are getting longer, so it can only mean one thing, the summer transfer window is only just around the corner.

No sooner have we dissected the comings and goings of January, than the conversation turns to who Mikel Arteta will choose to purchase in order to strengthen his Arsenal side heading into the next campaign.

In a season with more downs than ups for the Gunners there will plenty of hearsay about who will be coming and going through the doors of the Emirates in the close-season, but one man who has already been touted is Barcelona’s Philippe Coutinho.

Any Arsenal fan will already be well aware of the talent that the Brazilian possesses, having seen him produce the goods time and time again for Liverpool in his five-year spell at Anfield before he left in 2018 for Catalunya.

But since heading to the Camp Nou, things haven’t been plain sailing for the creative midfielder, with injuries hampering his time at the club, and even being farmed out to Bayern Munich for a loan spell last season.

So should Arteta be looking to make the move for the 28-year-old, or is he a busted flush?

Does Coutinho still cut it?

When you think of Philippe Coutinho you think of the little maestro that so often lit up the Premier League during the years of 2013 to 2018 on Merseyside, with his flair and eye for a long-range goal often changing a game in an instant.

You think of him alongside Raheem Sterling and Luis Suarez, as the Reds pushed Manchester City so hard for the title under Brendan Rodgers, rather than the player that has been on show across Europe for the past three years.

Since leaving Anfield, Coutinho hasn’t enjoyed the freedom he once did and has been blighted by injuries - the latest rupture of the meniscus seeing him out of action since December 2020, with his return not expected until next month at the earliest.

Entering the Camp Nou with a 160m euro price tag over his head, Coutinho was always going to be up against it from the off in La Liga and struggled to get going in his new surroundings - netting just 11 times in his first full season at the club.

When you have Suarez or Lionel Messi playing alongside you, that sort of return is never going to stand you in perfect stead, with fans of Catalonians dubbing the Brazilian one of the biggest flops in recent history.

A fruitful loan period in the Bundesliga with Bayern looked to have reignited his chances back with his parent club, but a return of three goals in 14 appearances before his latest injury issue seems to have put the mockers on that one, and a summer move looks to be the only solution as Barca look to recoup some of the fortune they spent on him three years back.

Phil yer boots with Coutinho

But at just 28-years-old Coutinho is far from washed up and, given a decent run of games in a team, he could start to flourish and produce some of the football we all know he is capable of.

With there likely to be a Martin Odegaard-shaped hole in the Arsenal attacking line next year, the club will need to act quickly to replace him and won’t want a repeat of the creative dearth that blighted the start of the current campaign.

Odegaard’s introduction has proved just how influential a playmaker of his ilk can be in this team, and Coutinho would fit the bill just as well, with his tenacity and quick-thinking in the final third likely to make all the difference if he was to make the move to the Emirates in the summer.

Cut inside. Bang. That’s what we remember from Coutinho, and that is something that Arsenal desperately lack this season - that ability to produce something out of nothing in the blink of an eye.

Sometimes when a game isn’t going your way you just need something to sway the tide a little bit, those goals that go against the flow of a game and stun your opponents, but the Gunners have netted just twice from outside the box this season.

Only the Premier League’s bottom side Sheffield United have mustered less with just the solitary effort from more than 18 yards out but Coutinho is a man who can produce that on a regular basis when given the platform to do so - he doesn’t score simple goals.

The Odegaard issue

Of course, all this hangs on whether Martin Odegaard will be playing his football at the Emirates next season, with the Norwegian said to be wanted back at Real Madrid after his temporary switch to the Premier League.

The 22-year-old has been the catalyst behind the Gunners upturn in results since his arrival at the end of January and has been one of the most consistent performers in his role behind the striker.

But with his future unclear at the La Liga giants, Arsenal could do much worse than turning to their El Clasico rivals to get a man capable of turning the side back into contenders for the key European spots after this write-off of a season so far.

Better yet, having the creative duo side by side to spearhead the frontline behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would be an unstoppable force in the making. But wait, this is Arsenal we’re talking about, that would be too good to be true.

A 2014 vintage Coutinho in this team would pick this team up by the scruff of the neck and put them in the mix at the business end of the Premier League table, just as he did for Liverpool in his first stint in the Premier League.

In 2021, the jury is still out due to injuries and a lack of form, but he is a man who knows the English game, and will be something of a snip compared to his price tag three years back, surely he’d be worth the gamble.

Photo Credit: Getty Images