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Tottenham target Aston Villa ace Douglas Luiz as Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg replacement
Tottenham are keen on signing Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa as their replacement for midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, according to the Daily Mail.
The outlet reported (20 July, 10:42am) that Spurs are also interested in Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher as they look to replace the Dane who has been linked with a move to Atletico Madrid [talkSPORT].
The Mail has claimed that talks between Spurs and Diego Simeone’s side are slow but have progressed in recent days regarding the fee and that a deal for either Luiz or Gallagher could occur should Hojbejerg depart North London.
Keep keep keep
Aston Villa are a club on the rise at the moment and should do everything they can to keep Luiz at the club.
The club recently tied the Brazillian down with a new long-term contract that will keep him at Villa Park for the foreseeable future, so they are under no pressure to sell. However, if they do sell they will no doubt seek a much higher fee than the £15million they paid Manchester City [Manchester Evening News].
They also seemingly do not need the money to fund other transfers with reports claiming they submitted a fresh £42.9million bid for Bayer Leverkusen’s Moussa Diaby [The Athletic], but should the 25-year-old depart he will need to be replaced.
Luiz earned attention from Arsenal last summer [The Guardian], with manager Mikel Arteta noting his frustration after failing to sign him on deadline day [ESPN].
While Luiz would make a fine asset as Spurs, Unai Emery should avoid letting the former Manchester City man depart as he was a lynchpin for Villa over the last four seasons and has only improved under Emery.
He featured in all but one Premier League match for the Villans last season, earning himself six goals and six assists. Outside of his exceptional goal contributions, Luiz is a quality defensive midfielder who is adept at intercepting opposition play through his strength and aggressive tackling.
This type of player is tough to find and tough to keep hold of. Villa were adamant about keeping Luiz when Arsenal came sniffing and will be just as keen to keep him this window if Spurs persist with their interest.
Villa won’t let him go unless a high fee is offered and his improvement since Emery’s arrival shows there’s even more to come from him, so Villa fans can sleep easy for now.
In other Aston Villa news, podcaster Ty Bracey has lowered his expectations for the club’s European push next season for one key reason.