Steven Gerrard reassures Emi Buendía after Coutinho's dream Villa debut | OneFootball

Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard has reaffirmed Emi Buendía’s importance following the eye-catching debut of Brazilian playmaker Phillip Coutinho.

Buendía arrived from Norwich last summer for a club-record fee of £38m, but has struggled to settle at the Midlands outfit.

Coutinho (who is on loan from Barcelona) earned the plaudits for his cameo appearance against Manchester United on Saturday, assisting and scoring as the Villans fought back from 2-0 down to rescue a point.

To offset that hype, Gerrard was quick to shine some light on the Argentinian.

“We haven’t brought anyone in to replace Buendía,” explained the Villa boss, who was team-mates with Coutinho at Liverpool.

“He’s a big player for us and he’s going to contribute and help us a lot moving forward.”

“He was my personal man of the match.

“He epitomised what I wanted from the 90-minute performance. OK, there were a few things within the performance that I’m sure Emi will try and improve, that’s the sort of kid and character we’re talking about.”

Aston Villa will be look to get back to winning ways on Saturday when they travel to face a currently managerless Everton.