Arsenal will likely try for an ambitious move to sign Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz in the January transfer window, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside for his Daily Briefing column, Romano explained that it won’t be an easy deal for the Gunners to get done, though he did think they would make an effort to lure the Brazilian to the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal have had some issues in midfield this season following the departure of Granit Xhaka and the repeated injury problems of Thomas Partey, so there is surely room for someone like Luiz to come in and have an impact.
Still, Villa are doing well under Unai Emery and won’t want to sell such an important player in the middle of what is looking like being an exciting season at Villa Park.
This saga looks like a tough one to call, but Romano seems to think Arsenal will try their best, even if this ultimately looks like it could be a similar kind of saga to the Moises Caicedo one we saw last January.
“Douglas Luiz keeps being linked strongly with Arsenal ahead of January, but I think it’s going to be a tough one,” Romano said.
“It reminds me of the Moises Caicedo situation last January transfer window when Arsenal really wanted Caicedo – they made multiple bids to sign him and then at the end it was not possible.”
He added: “I still think Arsenal will try to sign Douglas Luiz, even if it will be very difficult as Aston Villa don’t want to sell him.”
They will try and fail-Dougie is staying with Unai!!!
We need a right footed solid Central defender in January more than we need Douglas Luiz. What will happen now if Saliba is injured as of last season? We need Ousmane Diomande in January. The only game Saliba did not start this season was against West Ham in Carabao Cup and we were thoroughly beaten, reminding us of his bitter absence last season that cost us Premiership. Douglas Luiz can never be a replacement for any of Partey or Rice in the defensive midfield. Even at Aston Villa, Kamara is there defensive midfielder and not Douglas Luiz. However, if you say you’ll sell one of Havertz or Odegaard in the Summer and bring in Douglas Luiz, I’ll agree with you. He is a central midfielder and not a defensive midfielder.
Armchair general
I see nothing so special about this Luiz Guy.. Why is Arteta wasting his time on a player that is not even for sale ..Last season Arsenal has three bids rejected for this Guy. So I suggest Arteta should look at other alternatives.
Douglas has a very poor percentage of games played to goal contributions and poor interceptions if he is a defensive midfielder. With those figures in mind, I hope he stays at villa as he is not worth more than £25 million and Arsenal have better on the bench with better percentage goal contributions. Arteta should not waste money on a midfielder in January, not until the summer. Jesus could cover for Saka, kai or Viera or smith Rowe can cover for Odeguaard. We do not have quality cover for saliva and we are in need of a clinical technical tall TargetMan, but we do not require an ordinary midfielder that would not start games with Arsenal.Check out Douglas’s overall goal contribution to games played, not that impressive.