Can Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Loris Karius follow Philippe Coutinho with January transfer to reboot their career?

Philippe Coutinho has the chance to relaunch his career in the Premier League with his loan move to Aston Villa following another disappointing season at Barcelona in which the third-most expensive transfer of all-time — €160 million from Liverpool in 2018 — started just five games in all competitions and failed to play the full 90 minutes in a single match.

Coutinho, who won the Champions League with Bayern Munich while on loan from Barcelona in 2020, may be one of the lucky ones among players who have fallen off the radar since making big moves in recent years.

While Coutinho, 29, has the opportunity to prove he can still have an impact at the highest level, there are many more forgotten players who are seeing their career pass by due to a lack of game time at their club and little prospect of a move away. Some are huge names, others are players who have been unable to overcome a high-profile mistake or costly error.

With the January transfer window open for another three weeks, who are the other forgotten players who need to emulate Coutinho and negotiate a loan or permanent transfer in January simply to start playing again?

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Bale has suffered injury problems at Real Madrid this season, with knee, calf and back injuries, as well as a spell on the sideline with COVID-19. But that has been the tale of the 32-year-old’s recent career at Real, with whom he has won four Champions Leagues and two Spanish titles. Despite Bale’s success at the Santiago Bernabeu, his time at the club is drifting towards the end of his contract this summer with the forward an unpopular figure among the Real fans due to his perceived preference for playing for Wales than turning out for the club.

His loan move to Tottenham Hotspur last season had highs and lows, with some flashes of the brilliance he once displayed on a regular basis, but…