Aston Villa beat Chelsea to signing of Douglas Luiz | OneFootball

Aston Villa have beaten Chelsea to the signing of Douglas Luiz, bringing the Brazil midfielder back to the club. According to Telegraph, he will return on loan until the end of the season.

The move was enabled by Nottingham Forest cancelling his loan after Villa opened talks with him last week. Luiz had joined Forest from Juventus last summer.

The 27-year-old made more than 200 appearances for Villa between 2019 and 2024, and rejected interest from La Liga to come back.

His minutes at Forest were limited after a hamstring problem, and he has made 13 appearances, but is now fully fit.

Luiz left for Juventus in 2024 for €50m (£42.3m) after helping Unai Emery’s side reach the Champions League. Villa and Luiz did not want the move, but Profit and Sustainability Rules forced a sale.

He has told friends Villa is where his heart is.

Villa moved for him after Boubacar Kamara, who is set to miss the rest of the season, was injured. Youri Tielemans is now ruled out for an expected eight weeks after an ankle knock in the weekend win over Newcastle United.

Chasing the title, Champions League qualification and the Europa League, Villa are also without captain John McGinn for several weeks. Even before Tielemans’ setback, they had been weighing midfield reinforcements with the squad stretched.

Chelsea had targeted the Brazilian to add experience despite having Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Andrey Santos, Dario Essugo and Romeo Lavia, with the latter two struggling with injuries.

Source: Telegraph