logo
logo
Douglas Luiz patrols midfield during their League Cup match between Bolton Wanderers and Aston Villa at University of Bolton Stadium, Bolton, August 2022.

Watch: Fabrizio Romano breaks down how close Arsenal came to signing Douglas Luiz

Transfer insider Fabrizio Romano has posted a new video in which he’s explained in full detail how close Arsenal came to signing Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz on deadline day.

The final day of the transfer window came and went with Arsenal failing to bolster Mikel Arteta’s first-team squad, but it was not through want of trying.

Arsenal got most of their business done early, with no new signings since Oleksandr Zinchenko arrived from Manchester City over a month ago.

Throughout August, Arsenal were linked with a number of players, including Shakhtar Donetsk wonderkid Mykhaylo Mudryk and – “their top target” according to The Athletic’s David Ornstein – Wolves winger Pedro Neto.

But in the final days of the transfer window their attention turned from a winger to a new central midfielder following a long-term injury sustained by Mohamed Elneny and a knock suffered by Thomas Partey.

The Gunners had long been linked with Leicester City’s Youri Tielemans, but things went quiet on that front and the Belgium international has ended up staying put at the King Power for the final year of his contract with the Foxes.

In the end, they made a concerted effort to sign 24-year-old Brazilian Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa.

Luiz is into the final 12 months of his deal at Villa Park and had previously been scouted extensively by Manchester City while Mikel Arteta was there.

Reports suggested that Arsenal had a number of bids knocked back for Luiz on deadline day, but how close did they get to securing his signature?

“They tried until the end to sign Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa,” Romano said on his latest YouTube post.

“They submitted three proposals. The last one was 11pm European time, almost 10pm UK time. But Aston Villa said no to £25million plus add-ons. They wanted to keep the player.

“And now Douglas Luiz is staying, he’s out of contract next summer, so keep an eye on Douglas because the feeling is that around January [when he’s into the final six months of his contract and will be free to negotiate with suitors], many top clubs will jump into it to sign him as a free agent.”

Will Arsenal be back in for the midfielder in the winter window, then? Watch this space.


READ NEXT: How the Premier League table would look if it began when Arsenal hired Mikel Arteta