Luiz returns to Villa to ease midfield injury woes

Aston Villa have completed the loan signing of Brazil midfielder Douglas Luiz until the end of the season.

Luiz, 27, returns to Villa Park for a second spell, joining from Juventus after his loan at Nottingham Forest was cancelled early. The deal includes an option to buy.

He bolsters Villa boss Unai Emery’s midfield options amid an injury crisis in that area, with the club earlier announcing Youri Tielemans has been ruled out for up to 10 weeks.

Captain John McGinn is expected to be sidelined for up to two months and Boubacar Kamara is out for the season, both with knee injuries.

Villa sold Luiz to Juventus in 2024 for £42.35m but he made just three Serie A starts last season before joining Forest in the summer.

The move to Forest would have become permanent if he made a certain number of appearances, but he did not hit the threshold, having started just once in the Premier League under Sean Dyche.

Chelsea were also interested in the Brazil international, but sources told BBC Sport his preference was Villa, for whom he made 204 appearances between 2019 and 2024.

Emery’s side lost out on Conor Gallagher earlier this month when the England international opted to join Tottenham from Atletico Madrid for £35m.

Belgium international Tielemans, 28, came off in Sunday’s 2-0 win at Newcastle with an ankle injury and checks have confirmed he is unlikely to return until April.

“Tielemans is eight to 10 weeks out,” said manager Emery on Wednesday. “Kamara is not going to play this season. McGinn is six to eight weeks out.

“After those updates of those players we need to manage the centre midfield in the matches we are going to play.”

Kamara has had surgery on his injured knee, having come off in the FA Cup win over Tottenham earlier this month.

Another midfielder, Ross Barkley, who last played in November, is “coming back in a few days”, Emery said.

Defender Andres Garcia is set to be out for three weeks with a hamstring injury.

Striker Tammy Abraham joined Villa in an £18.5m deal from Besiktas on Tuesday and winger Leon Bailey has returned after spending the first half of the season on loan at Roma, while forward Donyell Malen signed for Roma earlier in the window.

Villa host Red Bull Salzburg on Thursday in the Europa League at Villa Park having already qualified for the knockout stage.

Despite the injury problems, Harvey Elliott’s situation at Villa has not changed.

Villa do not want to pay the additional £30m to make his move from Liverpool permanent. They would be obliged to pay that fee if he makes 10 appearances.

The attacking midfielder has played five times since his summer loan from Anfield but has not featured since October, although he was on the bench against Newcastle.

“With Harvey, it is not changing,” Emery said. “We have our idea. I spoke with Harvey clearly. I said before that he is a fantastic guy.

“He was on the bench against Newcastle on Sunday and was there if we needed help from him, he was ready to play.

Emery needed a quick fix.

An injury crisis that has robbed him of Kamara, Tielemans and McGinn has forced Aston Villa into the market for a position they had not expected.

Emery needed someone ready-made, who understood him and the club – and Luiz is the perfect fit.

Luiz left Villa for Juventus 18 months ago because they needed to comply with profit and sustainability rules (PSR).

When they qualified for the Champions League in 2024, Emery and head of football operations Damian Vidagany were trying to work out how to avoid PSR punishments. The sale of Luiz solved that particular problem at that particular time.

It has not worked out at Juve, nor has he shone on loan at Nottingham Forest after their chaotic start to the season under three managers – Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou and now Sean Dyche.