Arsenal have made a £20m bid to sign Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa.
It was gathered that four clubs – Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool – were interested in signing Luiz ahead of the transfer deadline
Luiz, who joined Villa from Manchester City and is out of contract next summer, scored a sensational goal from a corner against the Gunners on Wednesday night.
Arsenal defeated Aston Villa 2-1, but despite their perfect start of five wins from five, the club’s manager, Mikel Arteta, admitted he is wary about his strength in depth in the middle of the park following a spate of injuries, adding that Arsenal could do a deal on Deadline Day if the right player becomes available.
Arteta, said: “We are looking at options. Obviously, Elneny’s injury has an impact because Thomas Partey is injured and we are a bit short in that position.
“We do have Albert Sambi Lokonga and Granit Xhaka who can play there.
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“We are just looking at options in the market. As I said, the club has been super supportive to try to keep improving the squad and the team as we can, and if the right player is available and we can do it, we will try.”
However, Aston Villa boss, Steven Gerrard, said his recruitment team were also working hard to deliver a Deadline Day boost.
When asked whether Douglas Luiz would still be at the club at the end of Thursday, Gerrard said: “I’m not in control of that. There are more than two people in control of that but I’m certainly not one of them.
“That will be Douglas, that will be his agent’s decision as to what happens around that. I’d like to keep him because he’s a fantastic player. I’ve made that abundantly clear.”
Villa are set to sign Leander Dendoncker from Wolves after they saw a £13m bid for the Belgium international accepted.
