When Manchester City signed Douglas Luiz on a €12m this summer, the club showed they would be patient while waiting for the player to develop.
That’s why they loaned him for one year to Girona, where the midfielder should have enough time to adapt to European football.
But things aren’t going as planned, because Douglas is failing to get enough game time in Spain. In nine appearances, the 19-year-old has 261 minutes played so far, which makes the move quite disappointing for him.
The Manchester City youngster spoke to Globo Esporte about it, and wasn’t afraid of saying how he’s been feeling so far: “The player can’t be happy on the bench, right? I’m not that happy, but I’m really calm and doing what I’ve always done to start at Girona.”
The midfielder claimed that Girona’s game style may be what’s making it difficult for him to succeed at the club: “My real potential is more attack and less marking. They are having patience with me, but I am working so that everything can work out. This is a team of less expression in the league, so it requires a lot of marking. This may be disturbing me a bit.”
But Douglas still believes he will be able to return to Manchester City, and hopes to be playing under Pep Guardiola next season: “They supported me a lot, they knew I would come here. They said they wanted to see me next year, next season. It motivates me enough to be able to work here and to be with everyone there next season.”
The youngster perhaps needs to change his mindset slightly, in a Guardiola team the midfielder would be required to work hard, and he’s supposed to be able in a defensive midfield role. Girona don’t exactly play like Tony Pulis’ West Brom did, and have picked up plenty of fans already this season.
