West Ham United are in the market to beef up their midfield ahead of next season and have identified a Brazilian that would suit the style of manager, Graham Potter.
Softfootball can reveal that the player the Hammers are in talks with is Douglas Luiz from Serie A giants Juventus.
Ironically, the former Aston Villa midfielder joined the Old Lady’s just last season but it turned out a very poor debut season for him as he only played about 516 minutes across 19 league matches. He was truly a shadow of the player Juventus paid €50 million to acquire his service.
According to Goal, West Ham has confirmed their interest in Luiz and already began negotiations with Juve over a possible transfer this summer. Juventus want €40m but they are also open to negotiating the terms of the deal.
The Premier League are not willing to go that high but could make an offer to sign Luiz on an initial loan deal worth €10m with the compulsory option to purchase him next year for €30m.
The drop in Luiz form was a surprise for a lot of fans and many speculated if his breakup with girlfriend Alisha Lehmann had anything to do with it. The Selecao star did not show up during the celebration parade when Alisha’s Juventus Women’s team won the Scudetto in April and that raised eyebrows.
Luiz met the gorgeous Alisha while both were still playing for Aston Villa before moving to Juve at the same time last summer. But while Alisha has gone on to be a successful member of the Juventus female team, Luiz has struggled to make any impact for the men’s team.
Softfootball had reported initially that Juventus plan to use Luiz and two others in a swap deal for Manchester United’s Jadon Sancho. But with the latest West Ham move, that deal may not see the light of day.
Juventus have already identified Tottenham’s Yves Bissouma as a potential replacement for Luiz if he eventually makes the switch to the London side this summer.
