Arsenal have seen two bids rejected for Aston Villa‘s Douglas Luiz and are weighing up a third offer hours before the transfer deadline, sources have told ESPN.
The north London club have had bids of £20 million and £23m rejected on Thursday, sources have told ESPN.
Arsenal are scouring the market for a central midfielder after losing Mohamed Elneny for several weeks to a hamstring injury, while Thomas Partey remains out with a thigh problem.
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Arsenal are interested in Palmeiras‘ Danilo, but the Brazilian club are reluctant to sell at this point in the season, prompting them to look at other targets.
Villa are strongly opposed to allowing Luiz to leave, despite the 24-year-old having less than 12 months remaining on his contract.
Sources have said Luiz is open to joining Arsenal, but Villa’s stance could make a deal difficult to complete before Thursday’s 11 p.m. BST deadline.
Sources have said Villa have not given up convincing Luiz to sign a new deal at the club, meaning Arsenal are likely to find any negotiation with the Midlands club particularly tough.
Luiz scored direct from a corner as Villa suffered a 2-1 defeat at Arsenal on Wednesday, after which boss Steven Gerrard was asked whether the Brazil international would stay at the club.
“There’s more than two people that are in control of that, but I’m certainly not one of them,” Gerrard said.
“That will be Douglas, that will be his agent and that will be what happens around that.
“I would like to keep him — he’s a fantastic player and I’ve made that abundantly clear. We are not in a position to lose top players.
“But at the same time, Douglas has got a year to go and it is one of those really touchy situations where the club has to do what is best for the club, not necessarily what is best for me.”
