Injury expert Ben Dinnery has been reacting to an injury to Aston Villa star Philippe Coutinho.
The Lowdown: Coutinho injury
The 30-year-old is yet to feature under his new manager Unai Emery after suffering a thigh injury during training at Bodymoor Heath earlier this month.
Reports suggested that the Brazilian was set to be out for around seven weeks as a result, missing the World Cup in Qatar. However, it seems as if that timeframe could be longer following Dinneryâs comments, as it appears to be a complex injury from which to recover.
The Latest: Dinneryâs comments
Dinnery, who contributes for Sky Sports, was speaking to GiveMeSport regarding Coutinhoâs injury. He described it as a âfairly serious setbackâ and said that it could âpotentially extend beyond 10-12 weeksâ.
The injury analyst stated:Â âWeâre looking, initially, at around about two months as a minimum for this one.
âThis was a fairly serious setback and weâre looking at a minimum of seven-eight weeks. That could potentially extend beyond 10-12 weeks.
âThe difficulty that you always have with long-term injuries is that theyâre always fraught with setbacks along the road. It rarely is a smooth, straight line to recovery, so there will be twists and turns along the way.â
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The Verdict: Future in question?
Coutinho has struggled for form this season, posting the lowest WhoScored rating of anyone to start more than three Premier League games for Villa, and is yet to score or register an assist in 12 top-flight appearances, all of which came prior to Emery’s appointment.
Speculation in recent days even claimed that Villa could be open to a January swap deal involving the 30-year-old and Inter Milanâs Hakan Calhanoglu.
Therefore, we could see Coutinho dropping down the pecking order in the Midlands, with Emery potentially open to offloading the playmaker in 2023.
