Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz has reportedly agreed on personal terms with Juventus as he closes in on a move to Turin this summer.
The 26-year-old has established himself as a key, influential figure for Villa over the past five years, and having played such a vital role in helping us go from a newly-promoted Premier League side to qualifying for the Champions League, it had been hoped that he would have a big part to play moving forward still.
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However, speculation has been rife over his future over the past week or so, and Fabrizio Romano reports that he has now agreed on personal terms with Juventus, with Villa ready to accept an offer worth €20m and both Weston McKennie and Samuel Iling Jr in a player swap deal.
Based on that latest update, it seems as though we are nearing a total agreement on all parts of this transfer, and so as Villa seemingly try to address our PSR concerns before the end of June and avoid the risk of facing sanctions for breaching the regulations, Luiz could be the first major sacrifice made to help balance our books.
Many Villa fans will understandably be frustrated and disappointed with having to lose such a pivotal figure, with Luiz contributing 10 goals and 10 assists in 53 appearances across all competitions last year to go with being a big influence on our style of play and ability to control games under Unai Emery.
While his form did tail off towards the end of the campaign as Boubacar Kamara’s absence had a significant impact on him, there is no denying just how important the Brazilian international has been for us.
Nevertheless, with that €20m as well as McKennie and Iling Jr to flesh out our squad and add much-needed depth and competition, it could put us in a strong position for the rest of the summer to continue to bring in reinforcements and allow Emery to construct a squad capable of competing for major honours across multiple fronts.
Further, with just two years remaining on his contract and with his value perhaps as high as it ever will be, this is arguably the perfect time to cash in on him if we are willing to approve a sale, and so it sounds as though we’ll hear movement soon as a deal will likely have to go through before the end of the month to have the desired effect on our financial position.
