Douglas Luiz will reportedly remain at Aston Villa this summer, having been linked with a return to Manchester City.
The midfielder joined City from Vasco da Gama in 2017 but was unable to obtain a work permit and never made an appearance for Pep Guardiola’s side, moving on to Villa two years later in a £15 million switch.
That deal contained a release clause, thought to be set at around £25 million, which it had been rumoured City would trigger, but, according to the Express & Star, interest from the Premier League champions has cooled – for now at least.
The fact that City insisted on such a clause in the first place, though, would suggest that they had one eye on bringing the Brazilian back to the Etihad Stadium one day.
Could Luiz be the heir to Fernandinho, then? Well, the 23-year-old has certainly impressed over the past couple of seasons, establishing himself as a combative, controlling presence at the base of Dean Smith’s midfield (he also seems just as fond of the colour yellow, earning himself nine league bookings in 2020/21 to his compatriot’s eight).
Fernandinho was said to be close to agreeing a one-year extension at the Etihad, but that has yet to transpire. It’s fair to say his omission from the starting 11 in City’s Champions League final defeat to Chelsea caused quite a stir, but that was an inexplicable Guardiola curveball rather than any indication of what his future might hold; he may have turned 36 last month, but the tough-tackling club captain is still an elite operator.
Besides, City may already have a successor in their ranks in the form of Rodri, who has come on nicely after a slow start to life in England and was signed from Atletico Madrid in 2019 – for a club-record £62.8 million, no less – with that role in mind, presumably. Would signing Luiz at this stage be out of much more than convenience, a ‘because we can’ power move?
In any case, Luiz’s immediate focus will be on helping Brazil retain the Copa America, which kicks off in his homeland next weekend.
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