Villa Reject Arsenal’s Late Bid For Douglas Luiz

Despite a strong, albeit late push to sign Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz, Arsenal has failed to secure the star midfielder. Villa are understood to have rejected three separate offers for the Brazilian.

For Mikel Arteta, the aim had been to bring in extra depth now that Mohamed Elneny and Thomas Partey have both been sidelined by injuries.

Luiz was reportedly eager to see the switch happen, but Villa have been a tough cookie to crumble in terms of sanctioning his departure – this despite Arsenal’s willingness to fork out £25 million to make the move happen.

Luiz Had Been “In The Bag”

Luiz has been on Arsenal’s radius for quite some time. He first came into contact with Arteta during a spell as co-colleagues at Man City between 2017 and 2019. He is also well-known to Edu, who became technical director at Arsenal after spending time as general coordinator of Brazil’s national football team.

Arsenal had anticipated the success of the deal when following Luiz’ goal during a 2-1 victory over Villa on Wednesday night, the midfielder had been spotted in excited conversation with Edu. Luiz had reportedly also made it clear to his current team that he wished to leave the squad to gun for a place in the World Cup alongside Brazil.

But Villa failed to change its stance on Luiz when Arsenal made the official offer and went on to reject the latter’s final bid only 90 minutes before the deadline. Arteta has now been left hoping that his midfield setup isn’t subjected to further setbacks, which could spell disaster for the team.

Big Decisions Coming Up 

This means Arsenal will likely have to reassess their overall position in the winter when additional cover in attack may become an urgent requirement.

Also considered in terms of an offer was Shakhtar Donetsk forward Mykhaylo Mudryk, but ultimately, not offer had been tabled. They have however indicated that they will continue to keep an eye on the 21-year-old youngster. While Brentford went as far as offering £26 million for the star forward, Shakhtar refused to react positively to the deal.

Ultimately, the highest send-off from Arsenal on deadline day had been Hector Bellerin, who chose to re-join Barcelona. Bellerin in 2011 joined the Arsenal academy from the Catalan club but has not played for the Gunners since mid-2021. He spent last season playing on loan at Real Betis.

Another departure is 19-year-old Miguel Azeez, who now heads to Spain on a season-long loan with UD Ibiza, which is a second-tier club.