Premier League clubs had to do some magical moving of accounts this summer to get around PSR and that was certainly the case for Aston Villa.
They managed to work things out neatly by sending Douglas Luiz to Juventus for €50m while signing Samuel Illing Junior and Enzo Barrenechea as part of the deal.
Life in Italy has been hard for Luiz since and questions are now being raised about the whole affair, particularly by Il Napolista, who label it a ‘strange accounting operation’.
They report that ‘it’s already over’ between Luiz and Juventus, who has become the ‘symbol of that suspicious operation’ with Aston Villa.
Relaying information from Gazzetta dello Sport, they add that Luiz’s agent, Kia Joorabchian, is already hard at work trying to find suitors in England and Spain for the 26-year-old.
That raises the question of what the point in the move was in the first place given Luiz now hasn’t played for Juventus since 19 October and ‘the spark’ has never been there between him and Thiago Motta.
Il Napolista certainly have doubts and label the who thing a ‘strange operation with Aton Villa’, particularly when you factor in that Barrenechea and Illing-Junio were both shipped out on loan by Villans this summer as well.