Arsenal could miss out on ace as Premier League rivals look set to trigger buy back clause

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Buy back clauses are a nightmare for smaller clubs and only help to make the rich teams even richer, but there will be times when it’s the only way they can sign certain players.

It’s really just like a loan deal with extra steps, and often we see the original team take advantage of a player’s good form by buying them back just to sell them on to the highest bidder.

90min.com have reported on transfer interest in Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz, and it sounds like a buy back clause could be important here.

Firstly they point out that Arsenal are starting to show an interest in signing the Brazilian who’s had an impressive season at Villa, and he could fill a key need in Mikel Arteta’s midfield.

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Their problem is that the report goes on to say that Man City have a buy back clause on their former midfielder, and it’s starting to look like they are going to use it.

Interestingly they suggest that City didn’t want to sell him in the first place, but he was having work permit issues and it seems like selling him to Villa with a buy back clause was the best compromise they could find.

It’s strange that he was allowed a work permit to sign for Villa and not for City, but that could be an argument for a different time.

You have to think that he would have a better chance of getting into the Arsenal team, but he’s shown enough at Villa to suggest he could be the long term successor to Fernandinho too.

It’s unlikely that anything will happen before the end of the season, but it does sound like he only has one game left for Villa.

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