Aston Villa podcaster Andy Bates has been discussing Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz and the hopes he has for the Brazilian at the club.
This comes after Bates recently made an appearance on Villa-themed podcast Gather ‘Round The Lamp where he spoke about a variety of subjects on Dean Smith’s side.
On the topic of Luiz and his current contract at Villa, Bates had this to say on the matter.
He said: “I’d love to know what the actual contract details are in terms of this buy-back clause with Man City and how long it lasts and what is actually the buy-back clause.
“I think they said it was £25 million this summer, but I’m sure I’d read before when he actually signed that it would go up, year on year. It might be that if it goes up enough it might just be enough to put Man City off, but obviously it depends how he looks and at the moment, he just looks like an absolute world-beater in that position for us.
“I really hope he stays, I really hope he’s here next season when we can go back and watch him.”
Villa signed the midfielder back in the 2019 summer transfer window from fellow Premier League club Manchester City for a fee of £15.12 million.
It was reported in the Birmingham Mail that City’s buyback clause for Luiz meant that they would have needed to pay a fee of £25 million to Villa to take the midfielder back to the Manchester club with the fee rising to £30 million next summer.
Luiz earned himself a season rating of 6.63/10 for his performances in the 36 Premier League games he played for Villa last season, making him their eighth-highest rated player for the 2019/20 season alongside Tyrone Mings (per WhoScored).
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It’s great to hear that Bates wants Luiz, who is currently valued at £24.3 million, to stay at Villa for the future.
Moving forward, it’ll be interesting to see how Luiz performs for Villa throughout this current season and if City or any other club would be interested in signing him in the next summer transfer window.