Juventus head coach Luciano Spalletti and the club’s CEO Damien Comolli have two contrasting plans for Douglas Luiz.
The Brazilian midfielder signed for the Bianconeri in the summer of 2024 on a deal worth €50 million, including the values of Samuel Iling-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea, who joined the Villans.
Unfortunately for the Manchester City youth product, he endured a forgettable campaign in Turin under Thiago Motta and Igor Tudor, hampered by injuries, underwhelming displays, and personal issues.
This season, Luiz made his return to England, initially through the gates of Nottingham Forest, who signed him on loan. However, he was lost in the shuffle during the early-season managerial turmoil at the City Ground.
In January, Forest agreed to terminate his stint, paving the way for a return to Aston Villa, who signed him on loan for six months with the option to buy him for €25 million.
Aston Villa not planning to buy Douglas Luiz
The Brazilian international showed some flashes of brilliance, but he couldn’t quite cement himself as a regular starter in Unai Emery’s lineup. Therefore, the Villans are unlikely to retain his services.
Luiz will thus return to Juventus in the summer, potentially causing a new disagreement between Comolli and Spalletti.
The manager and the head coach have been at odds recently, disagreeing on several issues regarding the club’s future plans. Nevertheless, Juventus patron John Elkann insisted on reconciling them with Giorgio Chiellini’s help.
But according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Luiz’s case could prompt a new dispute, as Spalletti is intrigued by the midfielder’s skillset, while Comolli prefers to cash in on his services.
Why Spalletti would like to keep Luiz at Juventus
As the pink newspaper, the head coach sees Luiz as a potential deep-lying playmaker, capable of adding quality to the middle of the park. He would at least like to test him in pre-season.
The 67-year-old has always relied on a technical Regista throughout his career, from David Pizarro at Udinese and Roma, to Marcelo Brozovic at Inter, and Stanislav Lobotka at Napoli.
On the other hand, Comolli believes Juventus should cut their losses by selling the 28-year-old for at least €25 million to avoid a capital loss.
So it will be interesting to see whose idea will prevail.
10 Comments
You can`t have a power struggle like this!! Comolli has to go, this is an absolute laughing stock, we are an absolute laughing stock
Comolli out!
I see a mismanagement issue in the squad planning regarding age profile and positional overlap. There are several players born within the same period who occupy very similar roles. Manuel Locatelli, Teun Koopmeiners, and Douglas Luiz were all born in 1998 and largely operate in overlapping midfield areas. Likewise, Edon Zhegrova and Nicolas González, born around 1998–1999, also cover similar attacking profiles. A similar pattern appears in other positions as well, where the age gap between players is too narrow, reducing long-term squad balance and succession planning.
It appears the club may not fully understand what it is doing. The squad building feels reactive rather than planned. Too many players of similar age and roles were signed for the same positions, making the long-term structure feel unclear instead of balanced.
I think that is one of the reasons our midfield has become ineffective. Too many midfielders with similar profiles were signed, so instead of complementing each other, they end up overlapping and reducing each other’s impact.
Yes but I think the categorization of the players has been woefully poor. Luiz is a 10. He doesn’t look it but he is. That why him playing as a deep lying player hasn’t worked. It didn’t work whe he was here (that exactly why he was brought in, to replace locatelli. We saw how that turned out) now he’s coming back two years older and with very low confidence. Thuram is also a 10 being played as a defensive midfielder. He is best running into the box but his finishing and passing just isn’t good enough. Gonzalez and edon are not the same in my opinion. Gonzalez is a worker. He will track back and defend. He played best here as a wingback. Edon hasn’t absolutely no interest in playing defense. This is why he doesn’t get any starts. He is a liability. He’s only useful when we are chasing a game. He would need a player of the similar profile as Julian Alvarez, high motor, always running and tracking back. Basically doing the role he did in Qatar to cover for Messi. But that type of player is rare and edon isn’t Messi. This would work with salah if we were able to tempt him here.
Yes, exactly. Douglas Luiz operates as a deep-lying playmaker, using the creativity and vision of a traditional number 10 but playing from a deeper central (CM) or defensive midfield (DM) position, just like Andrea Pirlo did.
At Aston Villa, Douglas Luiz shined because he had Boubacar Kamara covering the defensive dirty work, allowing him to push forward, crash the box, and create like a 10
The attackers were the same, while the Defenders were a bit better
For once, Comolli, mind your own business. You have a player that is liked by the coach with lower salary. Just try using him, and maybe it will be a Weston McKennie 2.0 story. But no, Comolli needs to ruin this one as well. He should be fired
Enough with the ‘regista’ obsession! Italy is the only place where football is played at a snail’s pace just to let a physically weak player run the midfield. Football is a simple game, but Italians love to overcomplicate it. Just play people in their natural positions!
Comments are closed