Manchester City were forced to sell Douglas Luiz, implies Pep Guardiola
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has opened for the first time on Douglas Luiz's transfer to Aston Villa and revealed that he was forced to sell the Brazilian after work permit issues. The Premier League champions host newly-promoted Aston Villa and the midfielder starts against his former side.
Douglas Luiz lines up against his former club Manchester City at the Etihad stadium as Aston Villa travel to Manchester in a hope to avoid a big defeat. The Brazilian joined Aston Villa this summer for €16 million after he failed to get a work permit to play for the Cityzens. The 21-year-old midfielder joined the Cityzens in 2017-18 season from Brazilian club Vasco Da Gama but issues over a work permit saw him leave for Aston Villa this summer.
Since the move, the Brazilian has done relatively well and in the build up to the clash, Pep Guardiola went on to talk about the move and how different it would have been if Luiz managed to get a work permit. The Spaniard further added that he believed that the Brazilian would have made a great impact last season especially with injuries to Fernandinho.
"He would be here if a work permit were possible if the Premier League said it would be possible but now he is at Aston Villa. We have an option to get him back but sometimes life is like this. We wanted him because last season we had problems in that position because we didn’t buy a holding midfielder," said Guardiola to Manchester Evening news.
The 21-year-old midfielder joined the Cityzens from Vasco Da Gama and was immediately loaned to City's sister club Girona FC in La Liga. The Brazilian excelled for the La Liga side and helped them finish in 10th place. That saw Guardiola keen to keep him at Manchester City and reports have now revealed that the Catalan saw the midfielder as a potential replacement for Fernandinho.
"We wanted him before so we thought about it but the rules with the work permit meant it was not possible. I thought he would be here with the pre-season he played last year in the States, he was really good. I think he had the quality to play with us but he could not do it. The talent is always there, we’ll see at the end of the season what his level is but the quality is always there," concluded the former Barcelona manager.