Aston Villa poked around Ruben Loftus-Cheek earlier in January, but they’ll reunite with Douglas Luiz instead. The Englishman is poised to stay put at Milan and could get an extension, Calciomercato reports.
The Premier League side probed the player but never presented an offer. While he’s not a surefire starter, he’s been a valuable piece of the rotation. He has scored and assisted once in 24 games across all competitions. His contract is up in 2027. His agents will soon be in town to discuss the renewal.
Rather than acquiring Loftus-Cheek, Aston Villa will bring back Douglas Luiz from Juventus via Nottingham Forest, Mediaset informs. He had stopped being fielded regularly lately because the Tricky Trees didn’t want to trigger their €25M obligation to buy. It would have happened had he made 15 45-minute-long appearances. He’s currently at nine, having missed time twice because of thigh injuries.
The 27-year-old will return to Birmingham on a simple loan. The Old Lady will settle for the hope that he’ll rehab his valuation by playing more consistently in a team he’s familiar with.
Our Take on Aston Villa, Douglas Luiz, and Loftus-Cheek
That trade really blew up in everybody’s face, as Samuel Iling-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea are elsewhere as well. Juventus will have to get lucky not to take a bath, but he’ll probably just go out temporarily until his residual cost is low enough to cut bait. It’s moderately interesting that they didn’t even consider keeping him while searching for another piece. As for the latter, he hasn’t leveled up under Massimiliano Allegri, but he’ll be more useful, especially as Adrian Rabiot’s deputy, in the future when they return to the cups.
