Aston Villa’s valuation is ‘accepted’ amid claim Liverpool, Arsenal target has ‘agreement in principle’

Lewis Oldham
Aston Villa transfer
Douglas Luiz and Ollie Watkins embrace.

According to reports, Liverpool and Arsenal target Douglas Luiz has an ‘agreement in principle’ to leave Premier League rivals Aston Villa.

Luiz was one of Unai Emery’s during the 2023/24 campaign. He grabbed nine goals and five assists in the Premier League as Aston Villa finished fourth to qualify for the Champions League.

Luiz to leave Aston Villa?

Despite this, Aston Villa are at risk of losing one or two of their standout performers this summer as they are one of six Premier League clubs who ‘must sell’ in the coming weeks to avoid breaching Profit and Sustainability rules. 

Luiz could demand big-money bids after shining for Aston Villa this season and they can demand a sizable fee as his contract is not due to expire until 2026.

The Brazil international is not short of suitors, with it recently claimed that Liverpool have joined Arsenal in the race to sign the centre-midfielder. 

According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, Juventus are also in the running to sign Luiz and a potential deal is dependent on “two crucial points”.

“Juventus see an opportunity with Luiz,” Romano said in his Daily Briefing column.

“There are, however, two crucial points. The first one is the salary – Luiz has an important salary at Aston Villa, and so his salary with Juve would have to be in line with what they give to their other big players, or the deal is not going to be possible.

“And the other crucial point, as of today, is that the only way for Juventus to make this transfer happen is with a swap deal. Juve can’t go to Villa and pay €60m – they want to negotiate with Villa and this will follow in the next days, but the only way is with a swap deal.”

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However, a report in Italy claims Luiz’s agent Kia Joorabchian is ‘flying to Italy’ to hold talks with Juventus and it’s claimed the 26-year-old ‘has an agreement in principle’ with the Serie A giants.

While Romano claims Juventus would be unable to meet Villa’s asking price, Italian journalist Luca Marchetti claims their “valuation has been accepted” by the Turin side.

“He is not close but we are trying to get as close as possible. There are positive feelings and it shows how Juventus is continuing to negotiate, the valuation made by Aston Villa close to €60m has been accepted by Juventus,” Marchetti said.

“If the negotiation goes ahead it means that Juventus is interested, the inclusion of Iling Junior and McKennie demonstrates the willingness to carry out the operation.

“Then there is the financial fair play calculation to be made with capital gains for Aston Villa and Juventus, plus the €4.5m salary which is equivalent to the sum of the salaries of Iling and McKennie.”

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