Manchester City are already the biggest spenders in world football this January, but are showing no signs of slowing down.
The Sky Blues have already splashed over £125m this month, with Abdukodir Khusanov and Omar Marmoush thrown in from the start of their debuts against Chelsea on Saturday, while we’re yet to see either Vitor Reis or Juma Bah; the latter will spend the rest of the season on loan at Lens.
However, Pep Guardiola is not finished yet, so could the Citizens re-sign a midfielder you may not even know was once at Man City?
Manchester City seeking a new midfielder
According to a report by Dean Jones for GIVEMESPORT, Manchester City are ‘planning to explore the possibility’ of re-signing Douglas Luiz from Juventus.
Earlier in the window, David Ornstein of the Athletic reported that Man City were interested in taking Luiz ‘on loan until the end of this season’, but la Vecchia Signora would only agree to such a deal if an obligation to buy was included.
Luiz only joined Juve last summer however, as described by Adam Digby of Forbes, his time in Turn has gone disastrously, with the front page of Gazzetta dello Sport labelling him ‘a flop’ as quickly as October.
This came after the most high-profile of his missteps, giving away a penalty for handball mere seconds after being introduced as a substitute against RB Leipzig in the Champions League, luckily spared further scrutiny because ten-man I Bianconeri scored not once but twice late on to snatch a memorable victory at Red Bull Arena.
In total, Luiz has made only 18 appearances this season, starting four times, thereby totalling a mere 566 minutes, which accounts for just 20% of Juve’s total minutes to date, hence why Thiago Motta is willing to let him go.
Nevertheless, the reason the Serie A giants spent a reported £42.4m on the Brazilian’s services in the first place is because of how impressive he had been at Aston Villa.
How Douglas Luiz would fit in back at Manchester City
It wasn’t long ago that Luiz was thought of as “one of the best sixes in the Premier League”.
Comparisons were being drawn to a certain former Manchester City target in Declan Rice with the likes of Paul Merson, Owen Hargreaves and Jermaine Pennant all stating that the Brazilian was actually better than Rice. It’s a bold claim considering the Gunners spent an enormous £105m to prise the midfielder away from West Ham in 2023.
“Douglas Luiz has put himself into a category now after Rodri and along with Declan Rice as the elite defensive midfield players in the Premier League, Bruno Guimaraes is another one of those, but Douglas Luiz is better defensively and that’s why I think he’s very unique.” – Owen Hargreaves.
So now, almost eight years after first arriving in Manchester, could the Brazilian finally feature in sky blue for the very first time and how does he actually compare to that man Rice?
With neither İlkay Gündoğan nor Mateo Kovačić living up to the high standards set by the sidelined Rodri, it’s easy to understand why Man City are in the market for a midfielder this month.
So, let’s assess the statistics to see if they corroborate the claim that Luiz is better than Rice.
Appearances
116
159
Minutes
8,136
13,214
Goals
0.18
0.12
Assists
0.18
0.13
Touches
55
50
Attempted passes
48
43
Pass completion %
84.4%
86.9%
Tackles
1.6
1.5
Interceptions
0.81
1.16
Blocks
0.81
0.78
% of dribblers tackled
48.4%
56.4%
Ball recoveries
4.5
4.7
% of aerial duals won
56.9%
54.2%
As outlined in the table, since the start of the 2022/23 season, Luiz and Rice’s per 90 minute statistics are remarkably similar, but it is the Brazilian who largely comes out on top.
Luiz has racked up more assists, touches, attempted passes, tackles and blocks per 90 during this timeframe, also winning a higher proportion of aerial duals.
Thus, this suggests Luiz could be Man City’s own version of Rice, exactly what they’re looking for given Rodri’s injury, underlining that, even if he’s endured a rotten time at Juventus, this would be an astute piece of business.
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