Douglas Luiz breaks failed Arsenal transfer silence
FT Desk
- 4 Sept 2022 09:28 BST
- 3 min read
Aston Villa quoted Arsenal €46 million for Brazil midfielder Douglas Luiz towards the end of the summer transfer window - a fee the Gunners baulked at.
Arsenal are desperate for a central midfielder and might now turn to Palmeiras youngster Danilo in January.
With Oleksander Zinchenko - a £32m/€37m arrival from Manchester City - now joined on the sidelines by Mohamed Elneny and potentially Thomas Partey ahead of the Manchester United game, Arsenal's only senior player in the position in Granit Xhaka.
Mikel Arteta has spoken on Arsenal's Deadline Day Douglas Luiz pursuit 🔴 👀https://t.co/tSfMaKho5W
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) September 2, 2022
Arsenal were also previously priced out of a move for Leicester City's Youri Tielemans, and they hoped to get Luiz on the cheap with the Brazilian only having a year to run on his contract at Villa Park. But Steven Gerrard was having none of it.
"I've got confidence that he'll understand the situation and the club's decision," he explained ahead of Villa's impressive 1-1 draw with Man City. "We didn't want to lose a very important player and a top player so late in the window.
'He respects the decision'
"From a personal point of view, I very much back the club's stance on that. I spoke to him face-to-face yesterday and he understood where we were at and the position the club was in. He very much respects the decision."
Gerrard's take was then verified by Luiz, who posted on Instagram after the game that he was. "100% focused here! @avfcofficial."
Villa have a good recent record of squeezing maximum transfer fees out of buying clubs for their players. Jack Grealish joined City last summer in a £100m/€115.6m deal.
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Villa spent €34.7m of that on Bayer Leverkusen's Leon Bailey, who scored Villa's equaliser against City on Saturday.
Villa did allow Carney Chukwuemeka to leave for Chelsea in a £20m/€23.1m deal towards the end of the window, but the 18-year-old wasn't yet a first-team regular.
Luiz was the wrong player at the wrong time, as far as Villa were concerned.
