Mikel Arteta is thought to have targeted Aston Villa’s brilliant midfielder, Douglas Luiz, in January, but the Arsenal manager is set to be sorely disappointed according to Stan Collymore.
The Gunners have set the pace at the top of the table so far in the 2023/24 Premier League campaign, with new signings such as Declan Rice proving to be top acquisitions for the north Londoners.
With potential doubts over the future of Thomas Partey, it was thought that Douglas Luiz would be a perfect further addition to the squad, however, Collymore doesn’t believe that Arsenal will be able to afford a player who is playing for another super footballing side this season.
“I don’t think there’s any chance of Douglas Luiz going to Arsenal in January because Villa will be after the kind of money that I don’t think Arsenal would be prepared to pay,” Collymore said in his exclusive CaughtOffside column.
“They’ve just spent £100m on Declan Rice, and I think that Villa would be turning around and saying that’s the kind of money we want, thereby making it a non-starter.”
Unless Edu and the powers that be at Arsenal really do believe Luiz is worth the spend, Collymore’s hunch is more than likely to be proved correct.
He’ll not be the only exciting exponent to be staying put either it would seem.
Brentford’s hot-shot Ivan Toney’s suspension is served by the middle of January and he could move elsewhere should he so desire.
Collymore doesn’t expect that will be early in the new year because of the loyalty that the Bees have shown their best player over the past few months.
“Brentford won’t be in a relegation scrap so I think that they can afford to turn around to Ivan Toney and say, ‘look, we’ve been really loyal to you over the gambling stuff, we’re not going to let you go in January, but we will let you go at the end of the season,'” he added.
He would be a waste of money, his goal contribution is poor at about 15%. We have better fringe players. We need a Tall technical TargetMan.
You’re probably spot on because his price would be more than you paid for Rice so apart from wanting him you can’t afford him. So you get your wish he definitely won’t be signing for Arsenal or anyone else , the reason he’s not for sale
Recommend one?
I don’t think that Collymores hunches mean anything, if you really want to know the truth just look at the Villa website and you will see that the club won’t entertain a sale and they are also saying no chance of Luiz leaving
.so let’s just leave it out cos it simply ain’t going to happen