Philippe Coutinho became the fifth player of Brazilian birth to sign for Liverpool Football Club when he finalised a contract described as long-term on the penultimate day of the January 2013 transfer-window. Unlike Daniel Sturridge, whose arrival in the same window had been rumoured for some time, midfielder Coutinho’s signing was more of a surprise as he was still only in the early stages of his professional career with barely a century of first-team matches behind him for three different clubs prior to his arrival in England. Coutinho was born in Brazil’s second-largest city, Rio de Janeiro, and joined the youth system of one of that city’s most prominent clubs, Vasco da Gama. His potential was quickly spotted and Italian club Internazionale made a successful bid for him in 2008 when Coutinho was still only 16 years old. Inter did, however, allow him to remain with Vasco until he had passed his eighteenth birthday in the middle of 2010, at which point he relocated to Europe. The youngster’s arrival in Italy coincided with that of Rafael Benítez, who was appointed to Inter Milan’s head coach. Both Benítez and Inter’s long-standing president, Massimo Moratti, were enthusiastic about Coutinho joining their club but a quotation attributed to them that “Coutinho is the future of Inter” possibly placed unnecessary and unfair pressure on the teenager. Initially, things went reasonably well for the young Brazilian and he made his debut for the European champions as a second-half substitute for Wesley Sneijder during the Super Cup final against Europa League winners Atletico Madrid in Monaco. Inter were in the end comfortably defeated by the Spanish club.
Coutinho only appeared in eleven of Inter’s 38 Serie A matches in 2010/11 as the Nerazzurri finished runners-up to their city rivals AC Milan, and he had only played in a handful of matches by the halfway point of the following season when his career changed direction with a loan move to Espanyol in Spain. The change of scenery worked well for him as he scored five times in 16 La Liga matches in helping the Barcelona club to move clear of the threat of relegation. At the end of a fairly successful loan-spell, Coutinho returned to Italy but again had difficulty holding down a regular place in Inter’s first team even though he had represented his country at the South American Under-17 championships in Chile in 2009 before making his first appearance for Brazil’s senior team against Iran the following year.
Coutinho took over the number ten shirt vacated by Joe Cole and Brendan Rodgers was excited at his arrival, saying: "I love players who can make the difference at the top end. I've known about him since he was 15 years of age and watched him come through for Brazil. It was a real coup for us because Inter Milan didn't want to sell him, but when we thought he could become available we did everything we could to get him in. Thankfully he's chosen to come to Liverpool. He's a wonderful talent and a great technician, he's got pace, strength and power. He's flexible - he can play in midfield or off the sides. He's a really exciting player and another great product to come into the league. I'm really looking forward to developing him and seeing him work. I got a good insight into him last year when he was at Espanyol, he's a real talent and a good, young, exciting player - but also a real good professional and that's key as well."
Even though he did not arrive in England until the end of January, Phillippe Coutinho was one of the big successes of the 2012/13 season. The Brazilian settled into English life ... and the Liverpool team ... almost effortlessly, scoring in the first match in which he started (against Swansea in mid-February) and then adding further goals against Southampton and Queens Park Rangers. He was also responsible for creating several other goals, most notably the two he laid on for Stewart Downing and Luis Suarez at Wigan in March, a quite brilliant pass to enable Jordan Henderson to equalise at Villa Park later in the same month, two more assists in the 6-0 thrashing of Newcastle in April and a perfect pass to lay on Daniel Sturridge's hat-trick goal at Fulham in the penultimate match of the season in May.
The tricky Brazilian appeared in 86% of Liverpool's competitive matches in 2013/14 and scored five goals, the most crucial of which was a late winner against Manchester City at Anfield that kept the club's hopes of finishing first alive. He often did not play the full ninety minutes and could on occasions drift out of games, but most of the time he had a massive impact and his name was sung with gusto by fans. It was surprising to Reds therefore that he was omitted from Brazil's World Cup squad for that summer's tournament which was taking place on home soil. Coutinho had an excellent season in 2014/15, missing only three Premier League matches and also appearing in seventeen cup-ties. He enhanced his reputation as a scorer of exceptional goals with his strikes against Southampton and Manchester City in the League and against Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa in the Cup. In January he signed a new five-year contract and when it became apparent that Liverpool would not qualify for the Champions League, he brushed off any questions over the possibility of him leaving. He was deservedly a multi-prize winner at the club's end-of-season awards evening and his club form was rewarded with a call up to the national squad for the Copa America.
In 2015/16 Coutinho was outstanding, scoring twelve goals in all competitions. They included a stunning strike from outside the box at Stoke City in the opening game, the equaliser in the League Cup final and a brilliant solo goal against Manchester United at Old Trafford in the last sixteen of the Champions League. He won four end of season awards and was called up by Brazil or the Copa America which was held in the USA. Coutinho was the club's star performer in 2016-17, scoring thirteen goals in 31 games. He opened the campaign with a stunning free-kick at Arsenal and finished it with one at Anfield that helped secure the Reds a place in the Champions League qualifying round. In January 2017 he signed a five-year deal reported at £150,000 a week, but on 11th August, while still recovering from a back injury, he stunned the club by submitting a transfer request, hours after a statement was released saying he would not be leaving that transfer window. Coutinho had scored seven goals in his last eight appearances when the unavoidable happened in January 2018; he finally got his biggest wish fulfilled when Liverpool agreed to his move to Barcelona as he was determined not to appear for the Reds again once the transfer window opened mid-season. The payment Barcelona has to pay up front is believed to be around £106m with a further £36m in various add-ons. According to the Daily Mail that got exclusive access to the Brazilian in his final days at the club, Liverpool earns a further £17.7m once Coutinho has played 100 games, plus smaller payments of £4.4m for each of the first two Champions Leagues he qualifies for and the first two European titles he wins.
Coutinho became the second most expensive player in the world, only overshadowed by his compatriot Neymar. He started well in Spain, scoring twelve goals in twenty appearances, but after picking up an injury in the autumn he lost some rhythm and during the January 2019 transfer window there was media speculation that he may be returning to the Premiership, with Manchester United a possible destination. He remained at the Nou Camp, scoring against United in the Champions League quarter-final, but the arrival of Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid in July intensified speculation that his days at the club were numbered. On 19 August, a season-long loan deal was agreed with Bayern Munich, where he won the Bundesliga title and Champions League. In the semi final of the Champions League, he came off the bench to score two late goals as Bayern humiliated his parent club 8-2. He then played 22 minutes as a substitute of the final against Paris St Germain. With Barcelona appointing Ronald Koeman as manager for 2020/21, Coutinho was given a opportunity to prove his worth to the Catalan giants. However he was ruled out for the second half of the season with cartilage trouble. Early in 2021/22 Xavi replaced Koeman as manager and just five of his sixteen appearances in the first half of the season being starts.
In January 2022 he moved to Aston Villa on loan, teaming up with Steven Gerrard again who was by now Villa manager. The loan agreement had an option to buy and in May 2022 , following four goals and eight assists, Villa announced that they would be activating this. They paid Barcelona £17 million for his services with Gerrard saying Phil is a model professional and his impact on the group has been very clear since he joined in January. With the way he conducts himself on and off the pitch, he's also a valuable role model for our younger players who can only benefit from his experience". Things did not go to plan however, with Gerrard being sacked in October and from February onwards, Coutinho was included in just one of the last fourteen matchday squads by new boss Unai Emery. A loan deal was agreed with Dubai side Al Duhail for 2023/24.