05 December 2023 , 17:18
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Liverpool should beat Arsenal and Manchester City to the signing of Aston Villa star Douglas Luiz, according to John Barnes.
Luiz has been one of the stand-out performers for Unai Emery's eye-catching Villa side this season. The 25-year-old midfielder has five goals and two assists in 14 Premier League games so far in the 2023/24 campaign, helping Villa rise to fourth in the table.
His form has seen him recalled to the Brazil squad and has got him noticed by his former club City, as well as Arsenal and Liverpool. The Gunners tried to sign Luiz back in the summer of 2022, only to be pushed back, and he’s improved his game since Emery arrived at Villa Park.
Liverpool missed out on both Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia to Chelsea in the summer before bringing in Wataru Endo to help fill the gap left by the departure of Fabinho to Saudi Arabia. Jurgen Klopp has often played Alexis Mac Allister in holding midfield and former Liverpool winger Barnes thinks Luiz would represent a clear improvement in the position.
“City already have Rodri and in fact they initially had Douglas Luiz and let him go. Liverpool need someone like Luiz more than City do. City won’t be playing him and Rodri together,” he told bonuscodebets.co.uk. “Liverpool need a defensive midfielder in the number six role so from his point of view in terms of game time and playing more regularly coming to Liverpool would make the most sense.
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“It’s clear from his quality why so many of the top sides are interested. Villa will take some persuading because of how good he has been but we know how football works now. Money talks and I think we’ve seen if a player wants to leave there’s not much a manager can do to stop the player. It’s the way football is.”
Douglas Luiz has been in great form for Aston Villa (Marc Atkins/Getty Images) HAVE YOUR SAY! Would Douglas Luiz be a good signing for Liverpool? Comment below.
Luiz joined Villa from City for £15million back in 2019 and has made 173 appearances for the club in all competitions. He is under contract until June 2026, having signed a new deal last October following transfer interest from Arsenal, and is not thinking of leaving any time soon.
Asked about interest from Liverpool and Arsenal, Luiz told Sky Sports: "I am very happy to hear the stories but I am here at Aston Villa. My focus is totally here. I don't spend a lot of time looking at the stories. I see them, but I don't focus on that and I'm not looking at it every day. My head is here at Aston Villa."
He added: "Aston Villa is a club that opened its doors to me when I came to England, so I have a lot of affection and a lot of love for it.” Arsenal tried to sign Luiz at the end of the summer window in 2022 following injuries to Mohamed Elneny and Thomas Partey but were unsuccessful in three bids which reached £25m. They splashed £105m on Declan Rice this summer and are therefore unlikely to challenge Liverpool if they chased his signature in 2024.