Aston Villa are very close to agreeing on the sale of Douglas Luiz to Juventus in exchange for cash, as well as Samuel Iling-Junior and Weston McKennie.
According to Fabrizio Romano, Aston Villa are close to agreeing to a part-exchange deal with Juventus that will see Douglas Luiz join the Turin giants for €20 million in cash, plus Serie A duo Samuel Iling-Junior and Weston McKennie. Should the deal go through, there might be a few questions raised, as the agreement seems closer than ever.
Aston Villa-Juventus in part-exchange deal?
Aston Villa had set the standards by asking around £100 million for Douglas Luiz during the January window to ward off suitors like Arsenal and Manchester City. The former are still interested in signing the Brazilian as they continue to look for a new holding midfielder; Villa have already made a bizarre plan to offload the midfielder.
In what seems very strange from a financial and deal-making standpoint, Aston Villa are now close to selling Luiz to Juventus. The interest from the Serie A giants had accelerated in the past week or so, but now, as per Fabrizio Romano, they are more than close to finding an agreement on a part exchange deal.
Romano insists that Juventus are ready to pay €20 million to Aston Villa for Luiz in addition to sending Samuel Iling-Junior and Weston McKennie their way as part of the deal. The idea that Villa are more than willing to entertain such a proposition will have baffled many in this day and age of high transfer valuations.
In any case, the deal appears very close to its conclusion as personal terms with all players involved are currently being discussed. In conclusion, it does seem that Juventus are getting a fantastic deal, where they are able to bring one of the coveted midfielders in the continent for two of the stars they planned on offloading in the summer.
Why are Aston Villa selling Luiz?
Villa have been forced to sell Luiz owing to the PSR obligations they have ahead of the June 30 deadline. The club were named one of the six Premier League sides needing to raise funds by selling in the market to avoid sanctions from the league for breaching financial rules.
The baffling aspect here is the money involved for Luiz, with Juventus seemingly getting away from paying a premium price for one of the top midfielders in the Premier League. For instance, Iling-Junior does not have a good track record in Serie A, and while McKennie may have been a regular starter up until now, he only convinced a few when he was on loan with Leeds United.