From The Athletic
DOUGLAS LUIZ MUST FILL ASTON VILLA’S MIDFIELD VOID – AND FAST
Jacob Tanswell
Headphones on and sitting on his gaming chair, a comment from someone watching his live stream caught Douglas Luiz’s attention.
“Come back to Aston Villa!” it read.
“I miss Villa, guys, I miss playing at Villa Park,” Douglas Luiz responded, his tone inflecting and smile widening.
This was at the start of 2025 and the Brazilian’s sense of wistfulness had mushroomed due to how badly his first six months had gone at Juventus. Deep down, he had not been entirely convinced about leaving Villa in the first place.
On Thursday evening, Douglas Luiz was back at Villa Park as a home player but had to watch in the stands. The pining he first felt a year or so ago would not be truly fulfilled until Sunday against Brentford, when he can make his second ‘debut’.
The 27-year-old looked on from above as Villa made hard work of a 3-2 comeback victory against Red Bull Salzburg, securing a top-two spot in the league phase of the Europa League.
How the midfield fared was reflective of the broader dysfunction of much of the performance.
Amadou Onana played but there remains a fear of the Belgian breaking down, while 18-year-old George Hemmings, regarded as a shining light in the academy, made his first senior start.
Even with the caveat of senior players struggling around him, Hemmings was not the assured presence youth coaches have grown accustomed to watching. Pleasingly, though, fellow academy graduate Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba was the match winner. The 19-year-old has a lot of potential and showed the midfield profile that Villa have been missing.
Both Jimoh-Aloba and Hemmings will serve Villa in the longer term. Whether Harvey Elliott does is a different question. The Liverpool loanee came back in from the cold, playing his first minutes since October, with Villa requiring an attacker of some kind to start after Evann Guessand left the team hotel earlier in the day to travel to London and complete an initial loan move to Crystal Palace.
Elliott’s future remains uncertain as the January deadline approaches. He has lacked minutes and it would be understandable if his confidence has suffered, but Elliott looked an unnatural fit in Unai Emery’s system. Despite victory, the overall display showed the need for Douglas Luiz to hit the ground running.
Club sources admitted Douglas Luiz’s 2024 exit was a necessity, with Villa trying to meet the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules.
Villa needed to sell before June 30 and Juventus were interested in Douglas Luiz. Critically, though, the Italian side were under no rush to complete the acquisition. This heightened panic among Villa’s senior figures, fearing the potential ramifications of missing the deadline.
Emery enjoyed working with Douglas Luiz but did not feel he was indispensable; Villa considered him as the one lucrative asset they could go without, with his declining performances in the second half of the 2023-24 campaign noted internally. This made him the most vulnerable player to be sold, ahead of Ezri Konsa, Jacob Ramsey (who has since left for Newcastle United), Emiliano Martinez and Ollie Watkins.
“If you go £1million over the limit, you have a (points) deduction,” said Damian Vidagany, Villa’s director of football operations, of PSR. “Monchi (president of football operations) and I travelled to Italy in the last week of May. We got a pre-agreement (with Juventus for Douglas Luiz), but the final signature happened on June 30. It was a rollercoaster.”
Complications arose because of Douglas Luiz’s involvement in Brazil’s Copa America campaign, which was held in the United States that summer. For the deal to be closed, the player had to complete a medical and sign the contract. Tracking down Douglas Luiz, within the bunker of Brazil’s setup, gave Villa’s senior figures sleepless nights.
“They played in Vegas and then after the game, they were supposed to go to a hotel where he was signing the contract, but Brazil’s national team stopped them from going to Vegas as they were scared about partying,” said Vidagany. “From the moment we shook hands with (Cristiano) Giuntoli from Juventus (their sporting director) until the final signing, it was one month.”
For Douglas Luiz, the manner of his departure left unfinished business. In every window since, he has been linked with a return. In the summer, speculation of the former Manchester City midfielder signing on loan was misplaced — Villa were not interested in him then.
There was similar pushback this month, but then the injuries started to mount. The Athletic reported that Villa were exploring midfield loan options following the season-ending knee injury to Boubacar Kamara and John McGinn being sidelined for six weeks. Youri Tielemans was then ruled out for eight to 10 weeks with an ankle issue.
Douglas Luiz had been discussed as a possibility among intermediaries, who told The Athletic that he wanted to return. However, it was not until the 24 hours after Tielemans sustained the injury at Newcastle that Villa began to accelerate discussions.
His loan club, Nottingham Forest, were willing to cut short his season-long stay, and Juventus did not want him back.
Villa have a manager-led recruitment structure, and Emery publicly and privately said he wanted players who could adapt straight away, particularly at such a pivotal juncture in the campaign. The most straightforward remedy was to either acquire Premier League experience or, even better, Villa experience.
A senior figure at another Premier League club acknowledged that the January market for high-level midfielders was extremely tough, so for Villa, it was a case of better the devil you know. Emery can be predisposed to move for players he has detailed knowledge of.
Sources close to the situation say Douglas Luiz’s return — an initial loan with a €25million option (£21.7m; $29.9m) — made practical sense. His attributes theoretically dovetail well with Onana and once Chelsea decided against pursuing Douglas Luiz, after initial enquiries, and another potential European suitor failed to advance, Villa had a clear run.
Those close to the player’s camp described Douglas Luiz as “crazy happy” to be coming back, owing to his positive relationship with the supporters, and his belief that Emery’s coaching is of a higher level than the managers he had worked with during his 18 months away.
Douglas Luiz said his second Villa arrival was “coming home”. The move makes logical and circumstantial sense for all parties, but there is an important void for Douglas Luiz to fill. He, alongside Villa’s newly balanced midfield, must restore the form that made him so beloved and ensure Villa fulfil their season’s ambitions.
