Aston Villa handed ‘fresh Douglas Luiz concern’ as key summer transfer decision explained

Aston Villa will return to Premier League action this weekend.

Steven Gerrard’s men joined the Premier League in sitting out last weekend’s outing due to the death of the Queen.

But it has been confirmed that they will return to action on Friday night when they take on Southampton at home.

Gerrard is under pressure amid a disappointing start to the season, and Villa will want to take a real step forward ahead of the international break.

In the meantime, we have rounded up all the latest Villa news and transfer rumours.

Fresh Luiz interest

Villa managed to keep hold of Douglas Luiz during the summer window despite uncertainty over his future.

Luiz is out of contract next summer, and Villa are at risk of losing him for nothing amid stalling contract talks.

But they still decided to keep the midfielder despite late interest from Arsenal, in particular.

Ahead of January, there appears to be fresh interest, with CalcioMercato reporting Liverpool are set to make a move in the winter.

That could be a big problem for Villa, who could well be forced to sell for a cut-price fee, already facing losing Luiz for nothing in the summer.

Bednarek move explained

Jan Bednarek’s Poland boss Czesław Michniewicz has explained why he chose Villa over West Ham late in the window.

“Janek told me such a nice sentence that he fell asleep as a West Ham United player, and woke up as a player of Aston Villa,” said Michniewicz, as quoted by Sport.pl.

“First, he talked to David Moyes, who invited him to West Ham and said that he needed a defender because the one they had brought for €35m had suffered a serious injury.

“And Janek was determined to go there. He wanted to compete with the other centre-backs. West Ham have a lot of games because they also play in the Conference League. But then Steven Gerrard called him and the conversation was different.

“He [Gerrard] just told him that he would be an important player for him. He used the argument of the World Cup. ‘I know you want to go to the World Cup. You will be playing at my place, you will prepare, I also have Matty Cash here, so it’s good for your team.’ This declaration convinced him.”