According to the Telegraph, Arsenal have seen a £23m bid rejected by Aston Villa for Newcastle target Douglas Luiz.
What’s the story?
Well, just hours after the £52,000-a-week man scored against them at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal are frantically trying to sign the South American.
Douglas Luiz – who the Telegraph believe is also a target for Newcastle – has already entered the final 12 months of his contract at Villa Park, and has told the Villans he will not sign a new deal.
Arsenal have already seen a bid worth £20m rejected for the Brazil international, and have not had better luck with an improved £23m offer.
However, the Telegraph believe Mikel Arteta and Edu – Director of Football at the Emirates Stadium – could react with another bid, this time worth £25m.
In our view, that is good money for Aston Villa given the context of the 24-year-old’s contract situation.
Douglas Luiz is keen to join Arsenal ahead of the 11pm deadline, having fallen out of favour under Steven Gerrard.
The Aston Villa No.6 has only made one Premier League start this season, and is presumably keen to change his situation ahead of the World Cup in November.
Aston Villa should let Newcastle target join Arsenal
In our view, Aston Villa would be fools to keep Douglas Luiz against his will today, especially if Gerrard doesn’t plan on reintroducing him to the starting XI.
If a £25m offer does arrive from Arsenal in the next few hours, the Villans should accept it and use the money to strengthen other areas of the squad – either today, or in January if they run out of time.
Furthermore, keeping an unhappy player poses a serious risk to the morale among Aston Villa’s squad.
Keep an eye on this situation – we would be very surprised if Aston Villa refuse to sell Douglas Luiz before 11pm.
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