Aston Villa: Napoli urged to sign Luiz | OneFootball

Napoli have been urged to swoop for Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz…

What’s the talk?

Former Napoli coach Gianni Di Marzio has urged the Italian giants to sign Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz this summer as he would be perfect addition to their squad.

The 81-year-old has claimed that the Brazilian would be available for £17m (€20m) this summer and could have the potential to be a £68m (€80m) player in the future.

He told Radio Marte, via Sport Witness:

“Would Douglas Luiz be a good buy? Perfect, I’d take it right away! He’s very strong: he defends well, he has imagination, he’s bad. He can do everything.

“If you take such a footballer, he can be sold for €70-80m in a few years. Now, however, he would cost you a maximum of twenty million.”

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Smith would be furious

Johan Lange must avoid a Villa nightmare following these comments from Di Marzio. He cannot allow Luiz to leave Villa Park this summer, let alone for a fee as low as £17m. Transfermarkt value his services at £31.5m and this shows that the £17m fee touted would be nowhere near enough for Lange to be tempted into parting ways with him.

Dean Smith would be furious if the club cashed in on Luiz, for any price, this summer as he is an important member of the squad and could be a key figure in his midfield again next season. The Athletic journalist Gregg Evans once said of him: “He’s an absolute joy to watch now and I never thought I would be saying that. Villa have got a fantastic player in Douglas Luiz now, he looks like an absolute star, he could have played in that Man United team.

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“He was better than (Paul) Pogba, I thought. I thought he was brilliant, hardly did anything wrong, hardly put a foot wrong. He won so many interceptions and made so many important blocks. When he gets the ball, he passes it nicely. He’s the best player in that Villa team at the moment because it’s just not working for John McGinn.”

Luiz averaged a solid WhoScored rating of 6.71 in 23 starts as a defensive midfielder for the club last term, with a score of 6.67 across 33 appearances in the Premier League overall. This shows that he is a reliable, consistent, player for Smith and that is why he would be fuming if Lange sold him in the coming months, whether that be for the derisory £17m touted or any other figure within reason.

At the age of 23, the midfield maestro still has plenty of potential left to fulfil and Villa fans will surely want to see him develop in a claret and blue shirt. Smith will love to continue to work with him on the training ground to improve his game whilst being able to see the fruits of his labour on matchday in the Premier League.

AND in other news, Aston Villa launching bid for 21 y/o who “every coach would love”, fans surely buzzing…