Aston Villa journalist Dan Bardell has made a claim on Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz and his future at the Birmingham club.
This comes after Bradell recently made an appearance on Villa-themed YouTube show The Villa View, to reflect on the 2-0 win Villa managed to get against Crystal Palace at the weekend.
On the topic of Luiz and how he fared in the match, Bardell shared his thoughts on the midfield man.
He said: “He just looks so astute now, defensively his positioning has come on leaps and bounds compared to what it was before the [global pandemic]. He’s been excellent, you can’t argue that he’s been our best player. It’s now like you’re becoming used to that type of performance – you know like [John] McGinn last season and you just became used to the way he played and he’d give you the same pretty much every week? It’s a bit like that with Douglas Luiz now, and he’s been really excellent since we started again.
“The problem is that we just didn’t have the time at the start of the season to bed him in and I think he let us down at times and cost us goals. But you have to persevere with it, I guess, and we have done and we’re reaping the rewards now. I just hope it’s not come too late and he ends the season well, and he ends up leaving us because Pep [Guardiola] will be watching this and he’ll be thinking he could be ideal for Man City.
“Man City have got that buy-back [clause] and they can just pick him off from us whenever they want for double the money, which to them isn’t a lot of money, is it – Man City have got a ridiculous amount of transfer funds. It’s just a really weird transfer, you kind of feel like we don’t own him even though we do, and that was always my problem with it, but it’s been great to watch him since the restart.”
Will Douglas Luiz be a Villa player next season?
Yes
No
For his performance in the victory at Villa Park, Luiz earned himself a match rating of 7.44/10, making him the sixth-highest rated player in the game for Villa (per WhoScored).
This performance against Roy Hodgson’s side was his second-best performance for Villa in the Premier League so far in this campaign.
The 22-year-old, who is currently valued at £16.2 million according to Transfermarkt, signed to Villa in the previous summer transfer window from fellow Premier League side Manchester City for a fee of £15.12 million (per Transfermarkt).
Since then, Luiz has gone on to become a regular figure in Dean Smith’s side this season, having made a total of 39 appearances across all competitions.
TIF Thoughts…
It’s great to hear this praise Bardell has for Luiz and that he recognises the progression and development the midfielder has added to his game since the league restarted.