Credit: Imago

James Barker

Fri 3 April 2026 8:10, UK

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery should stick with Ross Barkley in his starting lineup over Douglas Luiz for the remainder of the campaign.

The 32-year-old Barkley has recently returned to fitness after missing a large chunk of the season, that saw him sidelined between late November 2025 and early February 2026.

After gradually building up his minutes from the bench, Emery gave Barkley the nod when making his first Premier League start of the season against Man United on 15 March, in which he scored in the 3-1 defeat.

He kept his place in the starting lineup for the visit of West Ham last time out, and whilst not getting on the scoresheet this time, the veteran midfielder once again banked a very impressive performance.

Meanwhile, Luiz has seemingly fallen down the pecking order after Barkley’s return, and is now facing a battle to win back his place in the lineup with seven league games to play.

How do Ross Barkley and Douglas Luiz’s league stats compare?

Villa have the option to buy Luiz on a permanent basis this summer from Juventus, which is understood to be worth £21.7million.

And given the way the Brazilian started in his first few games back at Villa Park since returning on loan this winter, that looked to be a no-brainer.

However, there no longer feels that same sense of certainty that this is going to happen, as the 27-year-old hasn’t started in the Premier League since the 4 March defeat to Chelsea.

He played and started in both legs of Villa’s Europa League Round-of-16 tie with Lille, and played well in both games too, but hasn’t been able win favour back with Emery yet in the Premier League.

That’s probably not, and perhaps rightly, going to change in these final weeks of the campaign either, as Barkley has been putting in performances that means dropping him would be incredibly harsh by Emery.

As per Sofascore, despite playing half of the minutes Luiz has racked up in the Premier League this season, Barkley is created three big chances to Luiz’s two, and has a higher expected goals (xG) of 0.68 compared to 0.49.

He’s also missed zero big chances unlike Luiz’s two, has a 71.4 per cent long ball accuracy compared to the Brazilian’s 57.1 per cent, and has a 21.2 per cent higher dribble success rate.

Barkley’s 68.4 per cent aerial duel win rate is also considerably better than Luiz’s 53.8 per cent, and so there’s ample evidence to suggest the Englishman should be able to keep his spot over his midfield rival for the rest of term.

Villa probably shouldn’t sign Luiz permanently at this stage

When everyone is fit, Aston Villa have an abundance of quality central midfield options, and is perhaps the department of Emery’s team that is most well and deeply stocked.

Onana, Barkley, Youri Tielemans, Emiliano Buendia, John McGinn, Boubacar Kamara, Lamare Bogarde: all of these players are either naturals in central midfield, or have shown the ability to operate there if required.

Therefore, Villa seem to have enough experienced figures in their engine room, and so if anything, a new signing in this area should perhaps be a young, highly-rated prospect that they can develop over the next few years.

Luiz is a good player, but losing his spot to Barkley doesn’t bode well for his chances of getting that £21.7m permanent option triggered, as the Villans continue to wrestle with the need to be cost-effective.