Douglas Luiz - coming back?

[AV84]

I could see him doing like Caicedo and signing a new deal in January then leaving for 100mil in the summer.

I wouldn't want to lose him but look at what Emery did over the simmer with not much more than that amount. We could probably get 2 world class replacements in and have a bit of change left over.

[Dave]

I dunno re Luiz. He was clearly on the up at that point, but he wasn't anything like as important to us as he is now.

But he was still a useful enough player that Arsenal wanted to spend somewhere in the region of £25m on him, and he could have joined them (or anyone else) for nothing nine months later.

He's more valuable to us now than he was then, but he definitely held all the cards at the point he signed that contract last year.

[PeterWithe]

I suppose my point is that there a lot of people saying 'I haven't heard about a release clause so he probably hasn't got one'. I think that conversely, on the balance of probability, he has.

[JUAN PABLO]

so Villa starting to scare the Sky wank offs . They did it to Leicester when they took Kante to chelski , Mahrez to the oils and Arsenal tried to  get Vardy , to be fair to Albert he turned them down , oh and Drinkwater pmsl to  Chelski .

This villa is not that Leicester , they can all fuck up .   This Villa are going places.

[taylorsworkrate]

I suppose my point is that there a lot of people saying 'I haven't heard about a release clause so he probably hasn't got one'. I think that conversely, on the balance of probability, he has.

If he has then I really hope its not for something paltry like 60 million

[dekko]

Grealish's wasn't widely know until very late, was it?

I think I'd be more surprised if Duggie didn't have one, he was holding the cards during the last negotiations.

I agree.

The other thing is, clubs only bid for players once they know the player wants the move, and Arsenal made several last season.

I appreciate others will disagree, but I think the only thing keeping him here after January will be Arsenal's FFP situation.  I don't know if they have that kind of room.

[lukey27]

I can't believe anyone thinks it is possible for a player to have a release clause and it not be known.

His agent will make it known to anyone who asks, there's no benefit whatsoever for the player in trying to keep it secret.

It absolutely will be known (if there is one) which is why I suspect there are so many links, probably coming from his team.

The grey area is whether the press can report there's one.

I hope he's happy here and will stay as it would massively disrupt us. Fingers crossed it's all bullshit

[PeterWithe]

I suppose my point is that there a lot of people saying 'I haven't heard about a release clause so he probably hasn't got one'. I think that conversely, on the balance of probability, he has.

If he has then I really hope its not for something paltry like 60 million

I'm aware we are getting into hypotheticals and negatvity but, if thats what he wanted to sign the new contract and protect us from him walking away for nothing, we would surely have agreed wouldn't we, supposing that the offer that we had from Arsenal at that time was a reported £25m?

[PeterWithe]

Why would the press be bound by anything in a contract between Villa and Duggie?

[lukey27]

Why would the press be bound by anything in a contract between Villa and Duggie?

I remember Gregg Evans (I know, I know) saying the Grealish one was bound by confidentiality hence it never being reported on until he'd left.

But these things are all cloak and daggers.

[ChicagoLion]

Why would the press be bound by anything in a contract between Villa and Duggie?

They would be and so would the agent.
It does not mean the information does not become known by certain parties but publishing it without evidence presents a level of risk.

[sid1964]

Maybe Duggie fancies living in London, he came close to joining Arsenal before

[PeterWithe]

Yes I can understand the agent, employed by one of the parties in the contract, being bound by a confidentially clause. But the press?

[Sexual Ealing]

Why would the press be bound by anything in a contract between Villa and Duggie?

They would be and so would the agent.
It does not mean the information does not become known by certain parties but publishing it without evidence presents a level of risk.

The agent might be, but there's no way the press wouldn't be able to report on it if they were bored enough.

[olaftab]

The self-defeatism of our fans is alarming. FFS there are rumours about almost every player out there who is  something more than decent. I know we are burdened by experience but we just need to calm down. Trust that our owners will tell whoever comes for any of out key players to fuck off.