Aston Villa rejected a mystery last-gasp bid for midfielder Douglas Luiz on transfer deadline day amid links to a host of Premier League clubs.
That’s according to The Athletic, who claim that two offers were rejected earlier in January and another on deadline day.
Villa now want to tie Luiz down to a new long-term contract at Villa Park, given that he is out of contract in the summer of 2023.
Luiz, 23, has been key for Steven Gerrard since his appointment as Villa boss and shunning these bids is no huge surprise.
So just who could have made this last-gasp bid?
The first thought is Arsenal, who spent January chasing a new first-team midfielder but came out of January without an addition in the engine room.
Edu and Mikel Arteta are both understood to be big fans of Luiz, with Arteta knowing plenty about him from his Manchester City days.
The Brazilian has been branded ‘very classy’ by Birmingham Live’s Aston Villa correspondent Ashley Preece, and he would have made sense alongside Thomas Partey.
Arsenal weren’t the only club interested in Luiz, with The Athletic claiming last week that Newcastle United wanted to sign him.
Newcastle had plenty of money to spend in January and may have thrown a huge bid Villa’s way for their star midfielder.
Newcastle did though secure another Brazilian midfielder in Bruno Guimaraes, snatching him away from Lyon.
Spending big on Luiz too may not have made all that much sense, even if pairing them up would have been very exciting.
The dark horse here could be Tottenham Hotspur.
Tottenham were also desperate to add a midfielder on deadline day and eventually snapped up Juventus ace Rodrigo Bentancur.
Once that deal was done, Tottenham likely didn’t need to bring Luiz to North London.
Yet with Fabio Paratici loving having many deals on the go at once, Tottenham may have wanted Luiz as a fallback option if Bentancur didn’t join.
We would guess Arsenal made a move, and if Villa don’t get a new deal sorted soon, they will be facing similar bids this summer.
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