Aston Villa found the perfect Jack Grealish replacement with ‘remarkable’ Steven Gerrard signing

The January signing of Philippe Coutinho has replaced what Aston Villa ‘lost’ with the summer sale of Jack Grealish, according to former goalkeeper Brad Friedel.

Coutinho arrived at Villa Park last month, signing on loan from Spanish giants Barcelona until the end of the season, while the club have an option to make the move permanent when the window re-opens in the summer.

The Brazilian has had a positive impact at the club, scoring twice and providing a further two assists in his five games for the club so far.

Coutinho’s arrival came six months after the record £100m sale of Grealish to Manchester City, although the former Villa man has struggled to make a massive impact at the Etihad Stadium so far.

“I think it was really difficult to lose an attacking player like Grealish at the time and it’s really hard to replace that which I think they’ve done now, for a short while anyway with Coutinho,” Friedel told BirminghamLive (via Bet365 ).

The signing of Coutinho is one that is described as ‘remarkable’ as Friedel, with Gerrard using his distinguished playing career as a pulling power in the transfer market.

“This is a perfect example of being an ex-player, how it would benefit. The friendship that they would have had first and foremost that would have intrigued Coutinho,” he said.

“I’m not sure Coutinho would go from a club like Barcelona to Aston Villa at this moment in time and I mean this with all of the respect, I love Aston Villa, but it’s not a normal move and I think this was a move for and behalf of Steven Gerrard.

“Coutinho, on his day, is one of the best, he has vision. He is the player who can replace what they lost from Jack Grealish.

“In the final third he has a special power there’s no doubt, so I