Steven Gerrard gives contract update on Arsenal target Douglas Luiz

Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard has revealed there is ‘no news’ regarding the club’s attempts to tie Arsenal target Douglas Luiz to a new contract.

The Gunners were keen on landing a central midfielder during the summer transfer window and made three offers for Luiz on deadline day.

As reported by 90min at the time, the third of those bids came in at £25m plus add-ons. But Villa held firm and refused to let the Brazil international leave.

Luiz, who joined Villa from Manchester City in 2019, is in the final year of his contract at Villa Park and could potentially leave as a free agent next summer.

If Villa cannot agree a new deal, they may also have to consider selling the player in January to avoid missing out on a transfer fee altogether.

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“No news in terms of extending his stay here, so that hasn’t changed. But what I would say is that he’s very focused, he’s trained well,” Gerrard explained.

“We’ve got a young Brazilian player who's a fantastic talent so I expect to be asked this question a lot as the season progresses.

“We want him to stay here, the owners were very strong in keeping him here. We didn’t obviously want to lose him on the final day and he has performed very well since.”

Arsenal have not given up hopes of signing a new midfielder and were even considering dipping into the free agent market to boost numbers in the centre of the pitch.

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