Will Arteta and Arsenal regret not signing Coutinho in January?
FT Desk
- 24 Mar 2022 09:59 GMT
- 8 min read
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta may be set to overturn a decision he and the club made in the January transfer window.
The Spanish tactician recently revealed that the London club considered making a move for the Barcelona attacking midfielder in January.
The Brazilian talent ended up moving on loan to Aston Villa, where he has truly hit the ground running with four goals and three assists in his first 10 appearances for the club.
Trending
However, Coutinho could have apparently been doing exactly that for the North London club, according to a recent comment from Arteta.
"We looked at many different players with quality that he obviously had and in the end, we went for a different option," said the Spanish boss at a press conference on Friday.
So why did Arsenal make an offer for Coutinho in January and was it the correct call?
Why didn’t Arsenal sign Coutinho in January?
As most Arsenal fans will probably know, the club spent much of the January window desperately hoping to sign Fiorentina striker Dusan Vlahovic, only to watch the Serbian forward dismiss their approach and instead sign for Juventus.
The Serie A goalscorer will undoubtedly be the “different option” that Arteta was referring to and although Arsenal never landed Vlahovic, their pursuit of the striker would have likely taken up most of their time during the month.
Arsenal may have also simply decided against bringing in Coutinho due to his age and cost, following the club’s struggles to get players like Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang off their wage bill in the past 12 months.
Will they regret it?
While very few Arsenal fans were clamouring for Coutinho in January, in retrospect he could have been a smart addition to the squad indeed.
There’s no doubt that Arteta’s team are in a good run of form, but the Arsenal manager still lacks a genuine playmaker in the attacking midfield role.
To date, Alexandre Lacazette still sits top of the club’s assist table, with midfielders like Martin Odegaard and Emile Smith Rowe sitting low on just four and two respectively for the season.
Whether Coutinho would have been a starter at Arsenal is anyone’s guess, but his ability to score and create goals would have surely been greatly appreciated in a team with no clear-cut goalscorer or playmaker.
So much so, that reports from Spain are suggesting that Arsenal may make a proper move for the player in the summer window.
According to Mundo Deportivo, the club have already reached out to Coutinhos' representatives about a potential move at the end of the season, which would suggest that the player's spell at Villa has impressed Arteta and his backroom staff.
