Douglas Luiz is set to join Juventus in huge swap-plus-cash transfer that will see two players move to Aston Villa as club look to stay in line
Douglas Luiz is closing in on a move to Juventus with Aston Villa ready to sell the Brazilian midfielder to ensure they stay in line with spending rules.
Luiz is currently with Brazil at the Copa America but is ready to move to Serie A in a deal that would see Juventus fringe players Samuel Iling junior and Enzo Barrenechea move to Villa, who would also collect about £25million.
The deal would go some way to easing Villa’s financial headache. The club need to make money this month to be certain they will not break the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability regulations (PSR).
The current accounting period ends on June 30 and any club who exceed the permitted losses – £105m over the previous three years – risk a points deduction, as happened to Everton and Nottingham Forest last season.
Sources in Italy also claim Juventus have secured a percentage of any future transfer fee Villa might receive for Iling or Barrenechea, should this deal go through.
Luiz may not be the only high-profile departure from Villa this month, even though homegrown midfielder Tim Iroegbunam was finalising a move to Everton.
Full-back Matty Cash would deliver a significant profit for PSR purposes and has been offered to both AC Milan and Inter Milan, with Villa transfer chief Monchi using his contacts across the European game to try to square the circle.
Forward Jhon Duran is also available for transfer with boss Unai Emery keen to add further back-up to Ollie Watkins, as well as improving his options at full-back and in midfield.
However, the Villans have also started dialogue over another Newcastle target on Juve’s books after their attempts to include him in the aforementioned swap deal were blocked.
Aston Villa made a bid for 21-year-old Matias Soule who has been linked to Newcastle for a few months.
Soule spent most of last season out on loan at Frosinone where he developed into an eye-catching player.
Initially, it was believed that Juventus would be keen to cash in on Soule this summer, but it seems that they have since changed their mind and said he is not for sale.
That lines up with what Aston Villa were told when they tried to make their bid for the forward who has been likened to Lionel Messi.
Birmingham World reports that they expect Villa to keep trying their luck in the hope of getting Juve to change their mind while going on to say that Newcastle and West Ham will be watching on with interest.
