Aston Villa must do whatever it takes to keep Douglas Luiz this January

3 minute read 9/12/2020 | 12:15pm

With reports suggesting that Douglas Luiz is now being touted with a potential move to Juventus, Aston Villa must surely step in to try and avoid a major transfer heartbreak.

What’s the story?

Reports in recent weeks and months had suggested that the Brazilian’s former club Manchester City were considering exercising their buy-back clause on the midfielder and ensuring a return to the Etihad Stadium.

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Now, it’s been suggested by reports in the Italian media that Luiz has been offered to Serie A giants Juventus, and that intermediaries have actually already approached the Bianconeri to try and engineer a move for him.

Lange must intervene

With the kind of success that the likes of Jack Grealish and Ollie Watkins have enjoyed this season, it’s easy to almost forget the kind of seismic influence that Luiz has on this Villa side.

The Brazilian’s performances for the Midlands club have even earned him his first couple of senior caps for Brazil, and that’s a testament to the kind of improvements and strides he has made under Dean Smith in this past year and a half.

Has Douglas Luiz been Villa's most under-rated signing?

Yes!

No!

Speaking earlier in the summer, The Athletic journalist Gregg Evans, said of him: “He’s an absolute joy to watch now and I never thought I would be saying that. Villa have got a fantastic player in Douglas Luiz now, he looks like an absolute star, he could have played in that Man United team.

“He was better than (Paul) Pogba, I thought. I thought he was brilliant, hardly did anything wrong, hardly put a foot wrong. He won so many interceptions and made so many important blocks. When he gets the ball, he passes it nicely. He’s the best player in that Villa team at the moment because it’s just not working for John McGinn.”

Johan Lange must intervene and ensure Villa don’t lose him to any of the European heavyweights anytime soon.