Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz has impressed Unai Emery on his return to the club
Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz
Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz(Image: Ryan Browne/Shutterstock)
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Unai Emery has been encouraged by Douglas Luiz’s progress after returning to Aston Villa last month.
The Brazilian joined Villa on loan from Juventus for the rest of the season after struggling for form at Nottingham Forest in the first half of the campaign.
Luiz had been allowed to leave Juventus in the summer after failing to reach his best level in Italy, following his £42 million transfer from Villa before the June 30 PSR deadline in 2024.
He has started the club’s last three league games - against Brentford, Bournemouth and Brighton - and impressed in each, covering for Youri Tielemans, who suffered a knee injury in Villa’s 2-0 win at Newcastle in January.
“Douglas Luiz, how he is adapting - and I think progressively getting better - I think he played a good match on Wednesday,” Emery said.
“He left from here one year and a half ago, and he didn’t perform well, or he didn’t play a lot in Juventus and in Nottingham Forest.
“Coming back here, we knew before, and I spoke with him, you must again, to recover, to remind everything we were doing here, and through it, you were performing so, so good, and through it, you got those deals leaving from here.
“And we were speaking about the time he needed to get it, and we are doing it. And the three matches he played, the last one on Wednesday, I think, in the progression he is, he played a good match.”
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