Aston Villa set £30 million price tag on midfielder amid interest from Jose Mourinho’s Roma

Reports in Italy have emerged linking Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz with a January move to Serie A side Roma.

However, it is believed that Villa wont be prepared to let the Brazilian leave mid-season without receiving a transfer fee of around €35 million (£30 million).

That price-tag might be enough to scare off Jose Mourinho’s latest club, who reportedly believe the fee to be “not very negotiable”, and they may well find the Premier League side more open to negotiations in the summer.

How important is Douglas Luiz to Aston Villa?

The 23-year old ha splayed eight time for Villa in the Premier League this season but did not feature in the side for their 2-1 win over Brighton at the weekend, Steven Gerrard’s first match in charge of the club, due to an injury which also kept him out of the previous two fixtures.

Villa signed the Brazilian international, who has played for his country nine times including twice this season, from Premier League rivals Manchester City in August 2019.

He reportedly cost Villa £15 million so they would be looking to double the money they paid for him in 2019 if the asking price of £30 million is correct.

Luiz has made 75 league appearances for the Villans and scored three goals, all of which came during the 2019/20 campaign.

What are the chances of this move happening?

It looks like the sizeable fee that Villa want will be enough to convince the Italian side to either look elsewhere or, more likely, reignite their interest once the seasons is over.

Luiz reportedly refused a new contract and wants to leave the club, with his agent travelling to the continent to collect offers.

His current deal at Villa Park expires in 2023 so it looks likely that he is heading for the exit, although it may very well be later rather than sooner in this case.

However, were he to leave in January and Villa get their price, it would likely give Steven Gerrard a healthy boost to his transfer fund in order to go out and recruit a replacement as well as one or two other players he may have an eye on.

How are Jose Mourinho’s Roma performing?

Roma currently sit fifth in the Serie A table with seven wins, one draw and five defeats from their opening 13 league matches.

Napoli and Inter Milan and first and second respectively with 32 points while Roma are ten points off the pace.

They were 2-0 winners away to Genoa in their last match, bouncing back from a disappointing 3-2 defeat away to Venezia who were only promoted to the Italian top flight this season.

October was a tough month as the capital side suffered defeats to Juventus and AC Milan while also drawing 0-0 with league leaders Napoli.

In Europe, they have been competing in the Europa Conference League where they sit second in Group D, one point behind leaders Bodo/Glimt and one ahead of third placed Sorya Luhansk.

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