Douglas Luiz returns to Aston Villa on loan to ease Emery's midfield injury crisis

Aston Villa announced on Wednesday that Douglas Luiz has rejoined the club on loan from Juventus for the remainder of the 2025/26 campaign. The Brazil international swapped Villa for Juventus in the summer of 2024 for £42 million but struggled to make his mark in Italy and then had an unsuccessful loan spell at Nottingham Forest, where he largely featured on the fringes under Sean Dyche.

Luiz made 27 appearances for Juventus in all competitions, many from the bench, and had admitted last February that adapting to Serie A had been difficult. Villa say his return comes at a time when they are short on midfielders: Youri Tielemans is out for more than two months, Boubacar Kamara is likely to miss the rest of the season, and John McGinn could be sidelined for a while.

In a club statement, Villa recalled that Luiz first signed for them in 2019, made over 200 appearances during five years in claret and blue, helped the side qualify for the UEFA Europa Conference League and UEFA Champions League in consecutive seasons, won an Olympic gold medal with Brazil and received the club's Players’ Player and Supporters’ Player awards, and welcomed him back for the remainder of the campaign.

douglas luiz loan, douglas luiz return, aston villa loan signing, aston villa midfield injuries, unai emery midfield crisis, juventus loan exit, nottingham forest loan spell, sean dyche management, youri tielemans injury, boubacar kamara absence, john mcginn sidelined, harvey elliott loan clause, £42m transfer fee, £35m appearance clause, villa park return, uefa champions league qualification, uefa europa conference league qualification, tokyo olympic gold medal, 2025/26 season loan, february 2 transfer window, europa league vs red bull salzburg