Arsenal skipped out on Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz late in the summer transfer window but are established to revisit the Brazil international in January, with Mikel Arteta ready to sanction a third bid for the midfielder.
The Gunners want to insert much more depth to their midfield simply because of Thomas Partey’s ongoing injury difficulties.
The previous Atletico Madrid man has managed only four appearances for the Gunners this season for the reason that of thigh issues and there are issues over his longevity soon after he missed 14 video games for the duration of 2021/22 and 19 matches in his debut campaign at the club.
With Oleksandr Zinchenko also missing lately, this has highlighted a absence of depth in this space.
Why Douglas Luiz could be Arsenal bound
Douglas Luiz, in the meantime, signifies a genuine target for Arsenal because his deal expires at the end of the season, at which stage he will come to be a absolutely free agent if no new deal is struck.
It usually means that January is the previous possibility for Villa to elevate any funds from the 24-calendar year-previous after they turned down £23 million from the Gunners in the summertime.
Arsenal are hopeful that a £15m bid will entice the Birmingham club into a sale, in part because they only paid £12.5m for him when he arrived from Manchester City in 2019. FootballTransfers, meanwhile, presents Douglas Luiz a valuation of £17m (€19m), regardless of his expiring deal.
Provided the struggles of Aston Villa in the Premier League this season – they lie 15th in the table with only two wins to their name by 7 matches – they might want to maintain keep of him till the summer season. Similarly, Douglas Luiz has usually been a bench player for Steven Gerrard’s aspect this time period, so if a alternative could be observed, there is unquestionably scope to strike a deal.
Douglas Luiz, meanwhile, has the kind of profile that Arsenal have normally chased in latest several years in that he is a reasonably youthful player with untapped probable but also possesses significant Premier League knowledge, obtaining turned out for Aston Villa a lot more than 100 moments in the competition.
Also, that he has only been a substitute this yr makes him arguably much more interesting as contemporary legs will be welcome for what is absolutely sure to be a fraught end to the season as Arteta’s adult men chase a Champions League put – or possibly even much more. Absolutely, this decreases the prospects of him selecting up injuries in the fashion of Partey.
For Arsenal, Aston Villa and Douglas Luiz, there is a whole lot to like about this transfer deal.
