Football journalist Dom Phillips has been singing the praises of Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz.
This comes after Phillips recently made an appearance on Holtecast – a Villa-based podcast – to discuss the club’s recent 2-1 defeat to Chelsea.
When asked how Luiz has fared in Villa’s two games since the Premier League season resumed, Phillips shared his praise for the Brazilian midfielder.
He said: “He just seems a lot more up to the pace, he seems a lot more confident, he seems a lot more like he understands what his role on the pitch is.
“Although [John] McGinn was saying in an interview that at the start of the season he didn’t understand English, I presume that he has worked on his English because he looks like the player that all season we were saying ‘he’s one of Pep Guardiola’s top prospects, how have we got him?’
“He was the guy that we were hyped up to see. If he played like this all season, he would have been the first name on the team sheet because he has been the best player comfortably since Project Restart, ahead of McGinn, ahead of [Tyrone] Mings, ahead of [Jack] Grealish.
“He’s shown a lot of those really good qualities that we expected to see from him from the start. So I’m just really happy for him that he’s got going because he’s shown he’s got all the hallmarks to be a top player. I just wish that we had more players like that at the club, players with higher potential, not 25-year-olds, who were stuck playing in the Turkish league or the Belgian league.”
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Despite the defeat to Frank Lampard’s side, Luiz put in a decent performance and earned himself a respectable match rating of 6.8/10, higher than any of Villa’s starting midfielders (per WhoScored).
TIF Thoughts…
It’s great to hear Phillips recognising Luiz’s efforts in Villa’s latest match and praising him and his progression and development at the Birmingham club.
Everyone at the club will undoubtedly be hoping that Luiz can carry on this level of performance for the remainder of Villa’s season and help them avoid relegation this season.