Aston Villa failed in their attempt to increase the allowable losses over a rolling three-year period to £135m to combat concerns over appeasing the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability rules and now an unthinkable prospect is seeping into Unai Emery's transfer window.
According to numerous reports corroborated by Fabrizio Romano, Villa are in negotiation with Serie A giants Juventus for the transfer of Douglas Luiz, with a full agreement close.
Okay, Monchi and Emery are making the most of a bleak and convoluted situation and have engineered the swap signings of talented winger Samuel Iling-Junior and midfielder Weston McKennie, but Luiz is "one of the best 6s" in English football, praise bestowed upon him by journalist Adam Gilks.
Villa are still expecting to recoup around £17m in hard cash for the Brazil international, but Emery and Co must really consider whether this is the best course of action for their side, having incredibly qualified for the Champions League with a top-four finish in the Premier League.
Douglas Luiz's importance to Aston Villa
Luiz has been one of the Premier League's standout midfielders over the past year, proving to be Emery's veritable heartbeat on the field as he dictates the tempo and knits the facets of the Villan machine into one, wrapping the thirds in on themselves.
It's been said that those involved in his rise at Villa have dubbed him "world-class", with a truly complete and polished skill set making him an indispensable component of a team that has transcended expectations when Emery was appointed as Steven Gerrard's successor.
His goal contributions have placed the 25-year-old among the elite in that category, ranking among the top 16% of central midfielders across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for goals and the top 17% for shot-creating actions per 90, as per FBref.
#
Matches played
35
Matches started
35
Goals
9
Assists
5
Pass completion
89%
Big chances created
10
Key passes
1.5
Ball recoveries
5.3
Tackles
1.7
Duels won
4.2 (51%)
Dribble attempts
0.7 (60%)
But for all of Luiz's sharp striking movements and well-placed creative choices, it is undoubtedly his energy, intelligence and technical crispness that has established him as one of the division's best, with Villa fighting off a trio of official bids from Arsenal in 2022 and seeing Juventus joined by the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United in pushing for his signature in recent weeks.
It might feel that this bitter deal is edging inexorably toward completion but Luiz is not the only player to have been touted with a move away, and given that there's a player in Jacob Ramsey who has previously been linked with a move away for a similar figure, Monchi must surely consider an alternative to losing the lifeforce of Emery's reign.
Who Villa could sell instead of Luiz
Last month, The Telegraph revealed that Diego Carlos was among those most likely to face an exit from Villa Park, with the centre-half one of the Lions' most lucrative earners at £100k-per-week but enduring an injury-stricken 2022/23 campaign that he failed to recover from with on-pitch performance, criticised for his "sloppy" defending by The Athletic's Jacob Tanswell.
While he wouldn't fetch a pretty penny, Carlos would whittle down the wage bill considerably, but he's not the only one mooted for departure in that report, with Ramsey also named as a sellable asset.
Ramsey is a homegrown hero, a product of the club's academy, and, as such, if he were to be signed by a suitor Villa would take in pure profit, which is a dream financial scenario in relation to the PSR conundrum.
The 23-year-old only started eight Premier League matches last term as he battled against injuries but has previously been valued at £50m, with Newcastle, Bayern Munich and Tottenham Hotspur all sniffing around back in January.
Hailed for his "stunning" finishing ability by journalist Gregg Evans back in 2022, the dynamic midfielder is undoubtedly talented and, with good luck on the injury front, will forge an excellent career for himself, wherever that may be.
But, frankly, Emery exceeded expectations and secured his outfit a place among Europe's elite next season without the full force of the Birmingham-born gem's qualities, suggesting that his departure would be far less likely to strike a detrimental blow to the Spanish manager's ambitious plans.
It's understood that Villa do not wish to sell Ramsey and neither does he want to leave his boyhood club despite the prestige of some of the suitors, and that a sale will only occur if other players fail to be sold.
Surely Luiz does not fall into that bracket? The £75k-per-week phenom will certainly be considered untouchable in his head coach's mind. But then PSR threatens to blot the progress like a spreading stain, and clearly the ongoing series of events are a by-product of a hand forced.
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McKennie, Luiz's likely replacement if the deal with Juventus is ratified, has enjoyed a solid campaign in Turin, starting 29 matches, but Premier League supporters will hardly have forgotten his struggles on loan with Leeds United the season before, with his lacklustre efforts dissuading the Whites in their previous plans to activate his £30m transfer clause.
This all feels a bit tricky, and while McKennie has enough innate ability to resurrect his Premier League career with success at Villa Park, Douglas Luiz is simply too good to allow to leave if another option is feasible, and every possible effort must be exhausted in keeping him put.
Selling Ramsey, unfortunately, might be the best way to ensure that he does indeed end up batting away the Old Lady's growing chances of a swoop.
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