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Steven Gerrard's comments about Philippe Coutinho leaving Liverpool for Barcelona have re-emerged as the two are set to reunite at Aston Villa.
Coutinho's loan move to Villa Park was confirmed on Friday and he'll spend the rest of the season under former teammate Gerrard.
The pair played together for two years at Liverpool before Gerrard's departure for LA Galaxy in 2015.
Coutinho himself would swap Merseyside for Catalonia in 2018 and his departure was a controversial one, with many fans believing he pushed too hard for a move and even accused him of faking injury.
Gerrard is a club legend and gave his thoughts on BT Sport when the transfer went ahead and his reaction was well thought out.
"I'm still digesting it, as a Liverpool fan," the 41-year-old said. "I'm not surprised, I know Liverpool have done everything they can to keep him and they fought very hard to keep him until the summer.
"When a kid's got a dream, a South American, and he wants to play for Barcelona and thinks this is the opportunity he's going to get it's very difficult to stop it.
"There's no doubt Liverpool will miss him. He's a great footballer, a great person. He hasn't downed tools at all so I respect his decision and wish him all the best."
Coutinho's time in Spain has been tricky and his best football arguably came in a loan spell with Bayern Munich, where he won the Champions League in 2020.
He was arguably one of the Premier League's best players during his time at Liverpool and the £125 million fee Barcelona paid was justified at the time.
Liverpool went on to re-invest that money on Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker, winning the Champions League and Premier League in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Coutinho will be hoping to fire Villa up the table after a positive start to life under Gerrard.
Last summer saw Villa lose Jack Grealish to Manchester City and they signed Emi Buendia, Leon Bailey and Danny Ings as attacking reinforcements.
They sit 13th in the table but are just six points off Wolves, who sit in eighth.
Do you think Coutinho will be a successful signing for Aston Villa?
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Featured Image Credit: BT Sport & Transfers/TwitterTopics: Philippe Coutinho, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Steven Gerrard, Premier League
Daniel Marland