€11m-rated 21-year-old is Douglas Luiz alternative

It appears to be a forgone conclusion that Aston Villa won’t sell Douglas Luiz to Arsenal in January, forcing the Gunners to look elsewhere for a replacement for Thomas Partey.

The Ghanaian has been out of the picture through a mixture of injury and Declan Rice’s emergence at the north London outfit and is likely to have to find alternative employment in the new year.

With Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta evidently trusting younger players if they’re good enough, a move for 21-year-old Pablo Maia, reported by Football Transfers, makes sense.

The Sao Paulo player is believed to be available for a cut-price €11m, which would represent a huge saving on a purchase of Luiz, who Villa want over £100m according to Football Insider.

Football Transfers note that the Gunners have been monitoring Maia over the past few weeks and are close to making their move.

Though it’s likely that he’ll be more of an understudy for Rice unless Arteta significantly changes his system, Maia’s projection is such that he will provide the competitiveness that the Arsenal manager desires from all of his players.

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With that genuine competition for places across the squad, each player will push the other in their position giving Arteta the perfect headache to have.

Were he to prove as successful as might be expected, Maia’s hire would represent another sound piece of business by the club.