Douglas Luiz joined Aston Villa in 2019, and ever since completing this move from Manchester City, he has been one of their top performers. A lot of teams were eyeing a deal to sign the 25-year-old in the summer, but Luiz decided to remain at Aston Villa. Arsenal showed a lot of interest in this midfield talent, but they were more keen to get Declan Rice from West Ham United.
Douglas Luiz decided to stay at Villa and play in the English Premier League and the UEFA Conference League with them. Aston Villa are a different team under Unai Emery and recruited some top-class players in the summer. Douglas Luiz has added another element to his game under Emery and has taken his game to another level. Let’s take a look at the stats that show how the Brazilian is creating his magic in England.
Midfield commander
Douglas Luiz came to the team as a defensive midfielder. He has seen a bit of change in his role on the field and is more of a centre-midfielder for Villa this season. He features regularly for Unai Emery’s men and runs down the field to help his teammates at both ends.
The 25-year-old ideally remains in the centre and covers that particular area. He is a strong figure on the ground and wins 65% of his defensive duels. Luiz is not shy about taking a card and already has four yellow cards to his name in nine league games. However, he has yet to commit a foul in a dangerous area.
Douglas Luiz is involved in 53 passes per 90 minutes for his club. His accuracy rate is 90%, and he is also their set-piece taker. Luiz attempts nearly nine passes to the final third and 2.1 passes to the opposition penalty box per 90 minutes.
Luiz provided six assists for Villa in the 2022–23 season. The Brazilian has yet to provide an assist for his side in the current season. The above shot assist map shows that Luiz is capable enough to deliver dangerous passes into the opposition’s penalty box. His quality on set-piece deliveries is very high, and these passes end up on the edge of the penalty box.
The new element
Last season, Luiz netted six goals combined in the Premier League and the FA Cup. He averaged 0.95 shots per 90 minutes and found the target 34.3% of the time. Things are looking a bit different for the Brazilian this time. His shot average has doubled to two per 90 minutes, and the player has already matched his last season’s tally. Luiz even tries to find the back of the net from corners as well.
The above viz shows the percentile rank of Douglas Luiz in comparison to other left-centre midfielders in the top five leagues. Luiz has a high percentile rank when it comes to taking shots. His passing has also been above average and is proving his worth in Aston Villa’s midfield.
Douglas Luiz could be heading to a top club in the summer. He has shown massive improvements over the last couple of seasons and is one of the best set-piece takers in the English top division. The Brazilian will look to continue this rich run of form and take his side to glory.
Visuals via TFA data viz engine