Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz is reportedly attracting interest from Arsenal again, but an exit surely won’t even be entertained by the club.
The 25-year-old has made 169 appearances for us since joining in July 2019, as he has long been a key figure in the Villa XI.
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However, there’s no question that he has improved, developed and matured significantly under Unai Emery over the past 12 months, excelling in a more advanced role where he is able to dictate and influence our play with his technical ability in possession.
Luiz combines that with defensive strengths that make him crucial in both phases, and there is no doubt that he is central to Emery’s plans moving forward with the responsibility that he has been given in this team, to control games and effectively be the engine room of the side simultaneously too.
According to Fabrizio Romano though, Luiz is the ‘favourite option’ for Arsenal to strengthen their midfield in January, with the Gunners previously heavily linked with a move for him prior to the Brazilian international signing a new contract. Unsurprisingly, he also notes that given we want to keep him, a move is ‘not easy’.
Off the back of a season in which Luiz scored seven goals and provided six assists in 40 appearances as he firmly established himself as an influential presence in Emery’s system and set-up, he has backed that up with six goals and two assists in 18 outings so far this year.
That renewal noted above has ensured he is under contract with us until June 2026, and given his form since signing that deal, the expectation is that it won’t be long before he’s offered new, improved terms to extend his stay further.
Despite all the positives, and in fairness, Emery has consistently praised him too, the Villa boss also continues to challenge Luiz to improve and demands more from him, as evidently he knows that he can get even better still.
“It (the Brazil squad recall) is very important and I am very happy for him. But I am also demanding with him, very demanding. He is progressing and playing well. He is playing more consistent at home than away,” he is quoted as saying by The Express and Star. “I was speaking with him and told him he is very important for us and Aston Villa and progressing a lot but I also said: ‘You can do more. I am going to try to push you to do more.’
“I think he can take more responsibility in our build-up. Of course, he is scoring a lot of goals but he can add more assists, as a midfielder for our strikers. He can be more of a protagonist with the ball, I think.
“For example, on Sunday at Nottingham Forest I was waiting for more from him with the ball when we were in possession. I was wanting more and demanding more. The last matches we played away at Wolverhampton, Alkmaar and Nottingham are three examples where he could do more.
“Every day in our meetings, I am being demanding with everyone. But speaking now about him, it is very good news he is in his national squad but we can get more from him.”
Now, anything can ultimately happen in football and we’ve seen players in the past who we believed were fully committed and happy to stay end up moving on for one reason or another.
In turn, it’s dangerous to unequivocally assume or expect that Luiz won’t move either in January or next summer.
That said, such has been the progress and development in his game, for Villa as a whole and the ambition and clear substance that backs the belief that we can compete at the top level under Emery, there are a lot more reasons now, perhaps more than ever, for our key players to stay and be part of this journey.
In a year under Emery we’ve gone from being in a precarious position just above the relegation zone to qualifying for Europe and now competing for a top six spot and perhaps even better. Further, we’re on the verge of advancing in the Europa Conference League and have that in our sights as realistic silverware that can be won.
That will hopefully be enough for Luiz and others to see the direction we’re going so that they stay and we can continue to build around them to strengthen. While there’s confidence in our scouting department and infrastructure to identify and bring in top replacements if necessary, it’s imperative that we fend off interest in our key players and continue on this trajectory.
So while we should expect interest to build in certain individuals as they reach higher heights, we’re hopefully building a foundation to be a contender so that we firstly don’t need to sell, and on top of that, our top talents don’t need to look elsewhere.