Club with lofty ideas about signing Aston Villa player – Want to make ‘massive investment’

Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz is on the front page of today’s Sport after Barcelona identified him as their favourite target to bolster their midfield.

The La Liga side have a clear plan to strengthen that position and their intention is to ‘make a massive investment’ on a player who can be a regular for several years. The Villans star is leading Barca sporting director Deco’s target list.

Luiz has excelled under Unai Emery’s orders and is one of Aston Villa’s key players this season.

Taking his form, qualities and physicality into account, Deco sees the 25-year-old as an ideal candidate for Barca. His age and past experience at Girona would also favour the Catalan club to make a large investment to try and secure his services.

Sport state the Blaugrana director has made several trips to England to watch the player live in action and the last time he did so was when Aston Villa faced Arsenal earlier this month.

The Premier League side are well aware Barca admire the Brazil international. In addition to this, Aston Villa director Monchi knows several top clubs are interested in him.

Therefore, Sport state Monchi could ask for €100m, even though the South American’s valuation is around €60m.

Aston Villa’s request doesn’t seem to scare Barca, who believe there will be funds to carry out Luiz’s signing next summer.