‘Speaking to someone at Villa’… Journalist shares what he was told about Douglas Luiz and Liverpool last year

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Liverpool have already been told their chances of getting reported target Douglas Luiz out of Aston Villa.

Having put in a string of good performances for Villa this season, Luiz is suddenly hot property on the transfer market. Just as they were in the summer of 2022, Liverpool have been linked with the Brazilian again.

But according to journalist Neil Jones, Unai Emery’s side took a hard-line approach to any interest a year ago, and are likely to do the same again. Speaking on The Redmen TV, Jones outlined what he’d been told by people at Villa about the chances of Liverpool signing Luiz last year.

“He was linked at the back end of the summer window last season, he was talked about,” explained the journalist. “I remember speaking to someone at Villa and they said ‘no chance we’re selling him. Certainly not late in the window, but at any point.’

“I think it’d be a difficult one to get him out of Villa, certainly mid-season. Maybe next summer if they were to really go down that route.

“[He’s] maybe just on the cusp of being the right kind of age but I’d be surprised if Liverpool were going to put all their money in that. I think it would cost them an absolute fortune to get him out of Villa.”

Liverpool sent Luiz warning

Given this little update – and even before it really – we’d be really surprised to see Luiz end up at Liverpool at any point.

As Jones alludes to, there’s not really any chance Villa will sell him in the January window. From there, he’ll be 26 come next summer’s market and that’s perhaps getting a little too geriatric for the Reds.

If they were to bring in the Brazilin, a better time to do it would have been last summer.

Had he arrived instead of compatriot Arthur Melo, Luiz could then have learned from Fabinho for a year before taking over defensive midfield duties full-time.

Now on the verge of his prime, he would probably have slotted nicely into Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool 2.0.

Nevertheless, we actually think that the Reds are better off looking at other targets. Although Luiz is having a good season in a very good Villa side, we’re not sure if he can make the jump up to Liverpool.

Playing well for the Midlands club and succeeding at Anfield are two very different things. As Alexis Mac Allister is finding out, playing in the holding role for the Reds is a nuanced and difficult task.

Luiz may be more of a natural holder than Liverpool’s No.10, but we’re not sure he’s at the same level as Mac Allister tactically or technically. Perhaps it’s time to leave this one alone.