When it became rather clear that Arsenal were not going to sell Granit Xhaka to AS Roma at a cut price, alternatives started being looked at by the Italian side.
Among those was Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz, who quickly became an important part of Dean Smith’s side in the Premier League following his acquisition from Manchester City.
He’s greatly impressed for the Villans, and rumours towards the end of the summer window suggested a move could be made by Jose Mourinho and co. despite it being a ‘difficult operation’ to pull off.
Nothing ever happened, and no midfielder came in in Rome, meaning there is still a dire need for an extra body, and Douglas Luiz is still in their mind.
Corriere Dello Sport run through the situation at the Serie A side, listing names who are of interest to the Portuguese manager.
There are few details about how much he would cost, but older reports placed his value at around €30m, which seemed quite low at the time.
This is backed up by Calciomercato, who also push the interest, claiming he has been on Mourinho’s list for a ‘long’ time.
A lot could depend on who comes in to take over from Dean Smith following his dismissal, but it would be very surprising for any replacement to want to make do without the Brazilian going forward.
