Philippe Coutinho: A star in the making
When Internazionale sold the bad boy, Mario Balotelli to Manchester City,
club president Massimo Moratti appeared to have made a big gamble. The Italian forward was widely considered to be the future of Milan giants and offloading him was looked upon as a major setback to the club’s future plans of promoting youth to take
the place of their ageing stars.
However, the Italian “padrone” wasn’t making a mistake as he deemed the trouble making Balotelli dispensable because of the arrival of Philippe Coutinho at the club.
Before the start of the season, Coutinho was rather an unknown quantity for Inter fans across the globe. Many fans must have moved up the cursor and typed the Brazilian’s name on Google only to find out that the kid was bought by Inter when he was only 16
and then loaned back to Vasco da Gama-from where he was initially signed. There the starlet became a starter and helped his side reach the top of the league before shining in the U-17 championships for Brazil.
But, nobody had expected this youngster to adapt to life in Italy so quickly. His manager Rafael Benitez, however, never had any doubts. "He has many qualities, we're expecting him to do well straightaway", said Benítez at the press conference introducing
Coutinho. "He can be the future of Inter."
Infront of the media, the diminutive youngster revealed himself to be humble, meek and shy as opposed to the brash, arrogant and noisy Balotelli. When a journalist asked him if he played like Wesley Sneijder, the youngster turned red and said, “I resemble
Sneijder? If only and how.”
But, Benitez took his time with the talented Brazilian and eased him into the starting lineup amid calls from the media to start him in every game. Against F.C Twente, Coutinho played the last half hour and displayed his fabled talents by creating two great
goalscoring opportunities and taking two shots at the goal.
His moment came this Wednesday during the champions league match at home against Tottenham Hotspur when he coolly controlled the ball from his left flank and after a great short passing movement involving Sneijder and himself, netted his first goal for the
club, giving Inter a 4-0 lead before the 2nd half. He can as well count Sneijder amongst his fans. "With his qualities, he will make it; he will make it for sure," the Dutch playmaker said later.
It’s still early days for the youngster as he will have many obstacles to see through as he gains more experience especially when Diego Milito returns from injury. He also has to face the prospect of being roughly marked by the opposition whenever he enters
the field.
The youngster is already becoming a poster boy for the Milan base giants and his presence has been welcomed by the Inter fans who don’t seem to be missing the presence of the controversial Mario Balotelli, who had left in a big-money transfer to Manchester
City this summer.
Coutinho is definitely going to be a star in the years to come, provided that he stays fit and improves every week. Hopefully, he will remain the same media-shy and timid youngster from the streets of Vasco da Gama and doesn’t get his head wound up amid
the media frenzy like his predecessor, Balotelli.
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