It’s been another interesting season for Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz, who was sent out on loan by Juventus in hopes that he would play enough games for Nottingham Forest in which he wouldn’t potentially return to Turin come the summer of 2026.
It very well may have another unexpected twist.
According to The Athletic and the BBC, with further confirmation from Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea (!!!) have let it be known that they’re interested in signing the 27-year-old Luiz on loan for the second half of the 2025-26 season. As Luiz continues to struggle for playing time at Nottingham Forest following Sean Dyche’s appointment in the fall, the likelihood of his obligation to buy kicking has become rather unlikely. Because of that, he’s certainly become an expendable player on a Forest team that is still competing on multiple fronts and is sitting just above the relegation zone in the Premier League.
Romano adds that it would be a short-term loan and nothing more than that, thus meaning that Juventus would probably have to find another new home for Luiz come the summertime (with even less of chance of getting a good chunk of money back as compared to what Nottingham Forest could have paid with their obligation to buy).
This feels a little less than ideal considering it would mean Luiz is coming back to Turin in a few months rather than seeing the number of appearances of at least 45-plus minutes worth of playing time kick in and he is off Juventus’ books for good. Instead, a loan move to Chelsea would pretty much clinch that Luiz will be going through another round of rumors and speculation about his future come the summer of 2026 unless something seriously changes and he impresses so much at Chelsea that they want to keep him around beyond June.
That second part feels unlikely, thus meaning Damien Comolli and Marco Ottolini have more work to do to ensure that Luiz doesn’t become the latest flop of a transfer that is just loaned out every single summer until his contract expires.
Luiz and his very expensive contract with Juventus runs through 2029.
With Nottingham Forest this season, Luiz has appeared in 14 games and made 11 starts in all competitions. He has played a total of 704 minutes and has just a single assist to his name.