European giants accused of doing Aston Villa a favour after £50 million summer deal

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A player who departed Aston Villa this summer has been questioned for his performances since moving to the European club.

Unai Emery’s Aston Villa have started the season very well as the Midlands club prepares for their first stint in the UEFA Champions League during the Premier League era.

Villa’s Champions League fate was revealed last week with the Midlands club set to play Bayern Munich and Juventus in what promises to be a baptism of fire for the Villains.

The fixture against Juventus will see the return of Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz, who departed Villa Park for a move to Turin this summer.

Douglas Luiz criticised for Juventus performances

The Brazilian became a key target for Juventus during the summer and the Serie A side completed the deal in June.

HITC understands that the original deal was for Juve to pay £16 million plus Weston McKennie and Samuel Iling-Junior.

Issues with McKennie’s personal terms have forced the deal to change though with Iling-Junior replaced in the deal by Enzo Barrenechea instead.

Villa have also signed Amadou Onana from Everton for £50 million and the Belgian powerhouse has started superbly well for the Midlands club.

As for Luiz, however, the former Manchester City midfielder has not started life in Turin very well and has been criticised by Corriere dello Sport’s director Ivan Zazzaroni for his poor start to life in Italy.

“For the third time out of three [games], Douglas Luiz started from the bench,” Zazzaroni said as per CalcioNapoli24. “I wonder if the €51.5 m were spent to do a favor to Monchi, who had to free Aston Villa of some players to respect UEFA obligations, or to try to bring the Brazilian’s very famous girlfriend, Alisha Lehmann, to the women’s Juve.”

Douglas Luiz’s slow start to life at Juventus

Last season for Villa, alongside John McGinn, Luiz was one of the most consistent players for the Midlands club as they finished in the top four.

However, this move has not worked out well for Luiz so far as he is yet to start a game for Juventus and may well struggle to be in the starting 11 by the time they take on Villa in the Champions League.

There is little doubting the Brazilian’s quality but he has struggled to break into the first-team squad yet under Thiago Motta. There was some surprise that Villa sold Luiz but that decision looks to be the correct one so far.