Douglas Luiz gives Unai Emery an Arsenal headache as ‘underrated’ ace drops 87% stormer in Aston Villa v West Ham
Douglas Luiz was the star of the show as Aston Villa defeated West Ham 3-1 in the Premier League and the timing of his performance might end up causing a headache for Unai Emery.
The Brazilian midfielder was on the scoresheet twice at Villa Park on Sunday (22 October) as the hosts came out on top in the battle of Claret and Blue sides.
His performance led Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson to write on Twitter: “Douglas Luiz got to be one of the most underrated players in the league.”
Whether Luiz is underrated is a topic for debate, he’s certainly not underrated in the stands at Villa Park.
Indeed, it wasn’t just his goals that make him stand out against David Moyes’ side. In stats provided by SofaScore, the 25-year-old also finished with three key passes.
Additionally, he had a pass completion rate of 87 per cent and played six out of seven accurate long balls.
Defensively he impressed too, making three tackles, two clearances and blocking one shot.
The issue might be that apparently there is a team in North London by the name of Arsenal who also don’t underrate Luiz’s talents.
Noted Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano wrote for Caught Offside on 16 October: “As I recently reported, Arsenal have been monitoring Pedro Neto for some time, and I can also say that Arsenal always keep monitoring the same players they like and Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz remains one of them. He’s always been appreciated.
“Of course, we know that Arsenal had bids rejected for Luiz in September 2022, and he later went on to sign a new contract at Villa Park, which runs until 2026.”
That he should put in such a dominant performance so soon after those links to the Gunners resurfaced could end up causing a headache for Villa boss Emery.
They have rejected overturns for his signature once but if he continues to impress like this can they really do it again?
For the sake of Villa’s fortunes going forward let’s all hope so.
In other Aston Villa news, the ball is in Youri Tielemans’ court over his future at the club.