Aston Villa star calling Barcelona ‘insistently’ to force SHOCK transfer

Robin Bairner

12 Jun 2024 07:49 BST
4 min read

Douglas Luiz, Unai Emery, Aston Villa, Barcelona, 2023/24 — © IMAGO

Barcelona have Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz in their sights, with the Brazilian apparently doing everything he can to force a move to the Camp Nou side.

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Douglas Luiz has long been linked with a move away from the Birmingham club, which qualified for the Champions League next term thanks to a stellar fourth-place finish in the Premier League.

Arsenal have long been the 26-year-old’s major suitors, but it had appeared that he would instead move to Juventus, with the Serie A giants pressing ahead for a player who managed 10 goals and 10 assists across all competitions last term.

STATS

Douglas Luiz

DM (CRL)

Aston Villa

Douglas Luiz

DM (CRL)

Aston Villa

53

Games
10

Goals
10

Assists

But there has been a late twist, with Sport indicating that Barcelona are making a play for Douglas Luiz, who appears to be eager to make the move to the Catalan giants.

The source indicates that Barca have included the former Manchester City man on a list of midfielders they intend to target this summer.

Douglas Luiz, who spent two seasons in LaLiga with Girona on loan, is aware of their interest and “his agents have called Deco insistently in recent days”.

Although Deco has been a long-term admirer of the player, even travelling to watch him turn out for Aston Villa on several occasions, it is only now that Barcelona’s interest is manifesting itself.

This has been prompted by one of the player’s agents constantly calling the Camp Nou sporting director to make him aware of Luiz’s availability.

Barcelona’s Douglas Luiz hopes hanging by a thread

Aston Villa are one of six clubs under pressure from the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), and it is thought they need to conduct at least one major sale before 30 June.

Douglas Luiz would be an obvious option in this regard, even if a deal is complicated by the fact that he is away with Brazil for the Copa America.

Sport indicates that Unai Emery, Villa’s manager, has given the OK as long as a fee of €70 million is paid.

This figure is expected to be a stumbling block for Barcelona, who are set to be handed financial constraints on their transfer dealings by LaLiga once again.

Barca’s deal for Douglas Luiz seems to hinge on them escaping this punishment, with Juventus remaining hot favourites ahead of Arsenal in this transfer race.