Aston Villa ready move to land £43m sensation

Hold the back page! Hold the front page! Oh, and while you’re at it… hold all the ones in the middle as well! Why? Aston Villa have finally signed a player… that’s why!

On Friday morning, the Villans confirmed the arrival of forward Evann Guessand, joining from Nice for a reported fee of £26m plus up to £4.3m in add-ons.

Before that, Unai Emery had only been able to add Marco Bizot and Zépiqueno Redmond on free transfers to his squad; Yasin Özcan has also joined for around £5.8m, but has instantaneously been loaned out to Anderlecht.

Now though, having belatedly got their first serious signing of the summer over the line, could another be right around the corner?

Aston Villa looking to bolster their squad

If all goes to plan, Aston Villa could play as many as 65 matches next season, certainly considered amongst the favourites to feature in next May’s Europa League Final in İstanbul because, well, four-time winner Emery is their manager.

Thus, ahead of a jam-packed schedule, the Claret and Blue Army need to add depth to their ranks and Guessand certainly does that, with Jacob Tanswell of The Athletic noting that Emery appreciates the fact that he is a ‘versatile attacker’, capable of being deployed in multiple roles.

Now, could they bolster their midfield ranks with a familiar face?

Well, according to a report by Football Insider, Aston Villa are interested in re-signing Douglas Luiz from Juventus.

The Brazilian only swapped the Midlands for Turin last summer, with la Vecchia Signora paying £42.3m for his signature.

Well, former Juventus player Alessio Tacchinardi believes this move was a “disaster”, given that Luiz has accumulated a miserly 877 minutes in a black and white striped shirt to date, starting just six matches across all competitions.

Thus, the Italian giants are desperate to offload the out-of-favour midfielder, with Filippo Cornacchia of Gazzetta dello Sport noting that a return to the Premier League is his most likely destination, so could he soon call Villa Park home once again?

Why Douglas Luiz’s return would be transformational for Aston Villa

During his final season at Villa Park, Luiz was an absolutely pivotal figure in Emery’s team, hence why Juventus were willing to pay such a huge amount to sign him.

Emery himself stated that the Brazilian was “progressing a lot as a midfielder… adding goals”, while Ben Mattinson of Breaking the Lines praised both his ‘duel-winning capacity’ and ‘press resistance’ when on the ball in possession.

So, let’s outline his importance to Villa during the 2023/24 season, a campaign which saw the Claret and Blue Army end up fourth, their highest top division finish since 1996.

As the table documents, Luiz was key to everything Aston Villa did across all competitions and across the entire pitch, ranked in the top four for every metric included, ranging from goals and shots to chances created and all the defensive metrics, namely tackles, ball recoveries, interceptions and more.

Luiz’s nominal replacement Amadou Onana was good if unspectacular last season, but David Michael of BBC Sport believes Villa massively missed the ‘control of midfield’ and ‘set-piece delivery’ that Luiz provided.

Thus, should he return, one would assume the “world-class” Luiz – as noted by Adam Gilks – would immediately do so as a starter, but it’s unclear whether the same can be said for Guessand.

Speaking on the Guardian Football Weekly podcast, Lars Sivertsen was not particularly excited about Guessand’s arrival at Villa, labelling him “fine” given that he did not boast an “incredible” goal-scoring record in Ligue 1, forecasting he’ll be little more than a “squad addition”.

Given the performances of Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins, with Donyell Malen, Leon Bailey and others vying for minutes in attack too, the Côte d’Ivoire international is unlikely to be thrown in for a debut from the start against Newcastle on the opening weekend.

Luiz though, assuming Villa are able to finalise his potential return quickly, would be a transformational addition to Emery’s first-choice starting lineup, so they should surely take advantage of Juventus’ desperation to cut their losses.