Aston Villa’s generally impressive season continues.
On Saturday, goals from Ross Barkley and then Leon Bailey saw the Villans beat Leicester City 2-1, leaving them eighth in the Premier League, thereby occupying the final potential European position.
However, given the fact that Unai Emery’s team are currently fifth in the gigantic Champions League table, on course to go straight through to the round of 16, few Villa supporters are complaining.
So now, in the January transfer window, could Villa re-sign a player who was so pivotal in getting them into the Champions League in the first place?
Aston Villa's search for a midfielder
A midfield addition appears to be on the agenda for Emery and co, with journalist Graeme Bailey having reported earlier this week that Aston Villa are ‘open’ to re-signing midfielder Douglas Luiz from Juventus this month.
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Bailey noted that Villa are exploring a loan deal, while the Serie A giants will only agree to such a deal if an obligation to buy is included.
The Brazilian joined la Vecchia Signora for a reported £42.5m as recently as last summer, with Samuel Iling-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea moving in the opposite direction for a reported €22m (£18m), as the club skirted around a potential PSR breach.
Luiz was a key figure for Villa last season, with Martin Laurence on Twitter calling his performances “outstanding”, while Jermaine Pennant told talkSPORT he believed the Brazilian to be better than Declan Rice, stating “I think he can do everything that Rice can do and better”.
However, as noted by Adam Digby of Forbes, Luiz’s time at Juventus has gone disastrously, with the front page of Gazzetta dello Sport labelling him ‘a flop’ as early as October.
His most high-profile mishap came in the Champions League, giving away a penalty for handball against RB Leipzig, mere seconds after being introduced as a substitute, saved further scrutiny by the fact that Francisco Conceição scored late on to snatch a 3-2 victory for ten-man I Bianconeri in Saxony.
Overall, Luiz has seen a miserly 354 minutes of action for Thiago Motta’s team, starting just two matches, hence why Juventus are open to selling him, with Nottingham Forest amongst those also interested in a move.
How Douglas Luiz's return would help Aston Villa
As alluded to earlier, Luiz was one of Aston Villa’s most pivotal players last season, racking up 4,353 minutes across all competitions, the second-most of any player in the squad, a mere 18 minutes fewer than Ezri Konsa.
On top of that, as noted by Sofascore, the Brazilian was awarded the second-highest average rating of any Villa player in the Premier League throughout the 2023/24 season (7.27), behind only top-scorer Ollie Watkins (7.32).
Thus, it’s clear that Luiz would certainly be an asset, if the Villans are able to bring him back, but how does he compare to Youri Tielemans, the current occupant of the deep-lying midfield position, usually deployed alongside either Boubacar Kamara or Amadou Onana?
Statistics
Douglas Luiz
Youri Tielemans
Appearances
71
85
Minutes
4,732
5,767
Goals
9
8
Assists
10
13
Progressive passes
258
347
Passes attempted
3,059
2,950
Pass completion %
85.8%
82.5%
Shot-creating actions
165
167
Tackles
83
111
Interceptions
30
50
Touches
3,423
3,383
As shown by the data, since the start of last season, Luiz – who’s previously been hailed as an “absolute joy to watch” by journalist Gregg Evans – and Tielemans are remarkably similar for a wide variety of metrics.
The Brazilian has scored one more goal, despite having yet to get off the mark for Juventus, while he attempted more passes, registered more touches and completed a higher % of passes, even though he has played almost exactly 1,000 minutes fewer during this time-frame, largely as a result of his inactivity since moving to the Serie A side.
Meantime, the Belgian, somewhat surprisingly, accumulated more tackles and interceptions, which may be contrary to general perception, but, without doubt, Luiz would certainly help Villa’s ambitions across all three competitions, if they’re able to bring him back to the Midlands.
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