Arsenal has been handed a tremendous blow to their hopes of signing Douglas Luiz after the midfielder signed a new contract at Aston Villa.
The Brazilian has been the subject of transfer interest from the Gunners for a long time and they submitted at least two bids for his signature on deadline day.
Villa rejected the offers, even though they knew he would be a free agent at the end of this season.
Arsenal had hoped he would not renew his contract with the Midlands team and join them for free in the summer.
However, that plan can be buried now because Steven Gerrard’s side has announced via their Twitter page that he has signed a new long-term contract.
Just Arsenal Opinion
Luiz would have been our player now if we moved for him sooner in the last transfer window.
That late push left Villa no choice but to demand a huge transfer fee, which we didn’t agree to pay.
We now have to turn our attention towards other midfield targets, but we will struggle to find a valuable free agent at the end of the season.
Youri Tielemans has also been on our radar, and he is similarly heading towards the free market agency.
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