Douglas Luiz looks set to leave Aston Villa before the deadline with the midfielder pushing for a move to Arsenal.
Luiz has entered the final 12 months of his deal at Villa and is keen to leave in order to compete in Europe, with Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Atletico Madrid all linked with a move on deadline day.
Arsenal are leading the race for Luiz and, according to Fabrizio Romano, talks are ongoing between the two clubs over a deal worth in the region of £20m. The Gunners are short in midfield at present, due to injuries to Mohamed Elneny and Thomas Partey.
Steven Gerrard discussed the future of the nine-cap Brazil international following Villa’s defeat at Arsenal on Wednesday night and admitted he expects there to be incomings and outgoings at the club on deadline day.
Douglas Luiz, pushing to join Arsenal. He wants the move and official talks are ongoing on £20m fee — personal terms not an issue. 🚨⚪️🔴 #AFC #DeadlineDay
Aston Villa will also announce Dendoncker as new signing soon. pic.twitter.com/K2I2OTaWOX
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 1, 2022
“Yes, and I think we’ve covered this before. There’s obviously very little time left, but people are working ever so hard in the background to try and get some support in where we feel like we need it.
“I don’t think it makes sense for me to say where and how many, but we are working hard to try and make additions and for one or two to go the other way.”
Gerrard admitted he would like to keep Luiz at the club, but admitted the 24-year-old’s contract situation could lead to a business decision on his exit.
“I’m not in control of that,” Gerrard said when asked if Luiz would be a Villa player after the deadline.
“There are more than two people in control of that but I’m certainly not one of them. That will be Douglas, that will be his agent’s decision as to what happens around that. I’d like to keep him because he’s a fantastic player. I’ve made that abundantly clear.
“We are not in a position where we need to lose our top players, but at the same time, Douglas has got a year to go, and it is one of those really touchy situations where the club have to do what is best for the club and not necessarily what’s best for me.”
Villa are closing in on the signing of Wolves midfielder Leander Dendoncker as a replacement, with a fee in the region of £13m agreed,
