2018-19 Championship playoff winners Aston Villa have been very active in the transfer market so far, signing 10 players and spending over £100 million ahead of the 2019-20 Premier League season. Their latest signing is 21-year-old midfielder Douglas Luiz, who joined the club from Premier League champions Manchester City.
The Brazilian midfielder moved from Manchester City to Aston Villa for a transfer fee of around £15 million, £5 million more than what the Premier League champions paid for him 2017 when he moved from Brazilian side Vasco da Gama.
Luiz spent the last two seasons on loan at Spanish club Girona as he could not secure a British work permit. Following the move to Villa, Luiz said not playing for Manchester City over the last two seasons was a blessing in disguise as he felt that he was not ready for the Premier League but believes that he is now prepared and ready to play in England’s top division. In the last season with Girona, Luiz played 29 games in all competitions and played a total of 46 games in two seasons for the Spanish side.
Good enough to break into the Villa XI?
Aston Villa have strengthened all across the pitch, and the latest player to join their ranks is Luiz, who is a talented, versatile central midfielder. Luiz is an all-action, box-to-box midfielder who is a good dribbler, contributes defensively, while also is tactically aware.
Last season, the duo of John McGinn and Conor Hourihane, with Jack Grealish a little further ahead of them, formed a very good midfield partnership. McGinn was the surprise package, scoring and assisting consistently for the club, even scoring in the Championship Play-Off final match against Derby County. McGinn will most likely start for Villa and he could be joined in midfield by Luiz, although it remains to be seen if the Brazilian midfielder is cut out for the physical and quicker nature of football played in the Premier League, yet.
Luiz has the technique and talent to flourish in a team like Manchester City, where the team always has the ball, but Aston Villa will, in most games, have to play with their backs against the wall and work together well as a team, which is where Luiz will have to prove himself. At the moment, the logical choice would be to start with McGinn and Hourihane in midfield, at least for the first few games, as both of them know each other’s game and have done well as a duo last season.
Don’t agree
Dean Smith will go out to win all the games in the premiership
Luiz will be vital in retaining the ball and supporting the defence and attack
We mean to take this league by storm and Aston Villa are back and prepared
UTV
We are getting there but it’s my opinion that we will need to improve our keeper I don’t believe Steer is up to PL standard, and for me Butland is a no brainer, Before we can speak about taking the PL by storm we also definitely need to address our striker situation, yes Wesley Moraes looks the part but you have to bear in mind his temperament he may at some time get sent off ,there’s also the possibility of him getting injured so on that basis we desperately need cover and again it’s only my opinion but Maupay would be ideal, otherwise optimistic that we can stay in the PL next season