According to reports, Man City have seen their deadline to exercise a buy-back clause for Douglas Luiz expire in a big hint he will remain at Aston Villa.
The 23-year-old joined us in 2019 and has gone on to make 76 appearances for the club since, scoring three goals and providing five assists in that time.
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Coupled with his overall contribution in midfield with his defensive shifts and technical quality to help us dictate the tempo of games and possession, the Brazilian international has been a key figure for Dean Smith since his arrival and it appears as though he’ll be a focal point of the side moving forward too.
As per BirminghamLive, Man City had until June 5 to exercise a buy-back option for Luiz, which would have allowed them to re-sign him for £27.5m this summer.
Given that clause has now seemingly expired, that is a major indication that the Brazilian midfielder will now be staying at Villa Park, unless City take the unlikely option of spending more than they could have in the coming months to take him back to Manchester.
Further, there is always the potential that other interested clubs could make a move, but ultimately given his importance to the side and the room for growth and improvement as part of this young team, it would make more sense from a Villa perspective to keep him and continue to build.
Smith arguably needs a midfielder enforcer still to help us dominate games in that area of the pitch, but with Luiz, John McGinn and Marvelous Nakamba, he has options at his disposal depending on the opposition and circumstances of the game.
Morgan Sanson will hope to have a bigger role next season after he gets a full pre-season under his belt this summer and will no doubt show his quality moving forward, while Conor Hourihane will return from his loan spell but with much uncertainty still surrounding his future.
Add to the mix the young stars coming through our Academy, Villa and Smith may feel as though we’re well covered in that department, but with Luiz now expected to stay for the foreseeable future, that’s a huge boost in itself as we look to continue to make progress and compete at the top level.