Douglas Luiz is delighted to be back at Aston Villa. Ask him what he missed about the place and his answer is swift. “Everything! I missed the players, the coach. Villa Park, for me, is very special too. Here, I had my best my moments. I missed everything.”
The Brazilian tells Your Site: "I really appreciate coming back to Aston Villa, where I showed my best football with this team, with this coach, because for one year and a half I did not play so well since I left Aston Villa." It is his first answer. Straight out with it.
When the midfielder left Villa in the summer of 2024 having helped the club to qualify for the Champions League, he was one of their best players. He departed for Juventus in a £42m deal having just turned 26 and seemed well set to play his best football in Italy.
But he returns to Villa just 18 months later off the back of a loan spell at Nottingham Forest that was hampered not only by injury but a reduced status. He started only five Premier League games for Forest. He was an unused substitute more often than that.
What happened since he left Villa? "I don't know, maybe it was the adaptation," he says. "It is another team, another coach, another idea. It did not go so well, that is true. But this helped me a lot because even in the bad moments you can get something."
Circumstances have seen him trade a relegation battle for a return to the club sitting third in the Premier League table. Injuries to Boubacar Kamara, Youri Tielemans and John McGinn left a gap in the midfield. Unai Emery decided he was the best option to fill it.
Luiz reveals: "In the first call, he said, 'Douglas, we need you a lot in this moment.' I just told him, 'Gaffer, you know me. I am ready to play. I am ready to come back.' He believes in me a lot and I believe in him. The combination that we have is so special."
Speaking to Emery about this, he explains the logic behind Luiz's return and the reasons why he was the right choice. "Douglas Luiz, he knows us. He knows everything we were working on and building here, our mentality, our demands," Emery tells Your Site.
"He left, of course, trying to improve things in his career because he was performing fantastic and it was a very good sporting and economic offer for him. He has come back because of circumstances and he is playing and helping us, adapting quickly.
"He needs adaptation because some players were here before but there are some new players. He is progressively getting better. Of course, he knows my demands. I am pushing him in the meetings we are having, the video [meetings], the individual work."
Mention those video meetings to Luiz and he laughs, jokingly offering an amendment to his claim that he missed everything about life with his old boss. "That is the only thing I truly do not miss a lot!" But talking to both men, the connection between them is apparent.
"I know him, I know about his style," says Luiz. "I understand him. It is how we think about football. I think that me and Unai, we think the same. The possession, how we press. His training, how you can play, how you can build up, this has helped me a lot."
Supporters have welcomed him back - the familiar calls for him to shoot from every corner making a return to Villa Park - but it has not been an unqualified success so far. Villa have won one of their last five games and that winner came after his substitution.
Luiz has slotted in well enough, that calm passing still evident, and there is a feeling that he will continue to improve. But as well as the challenge of getting up to speed physically after not starting regularly, there are those tactical subtleties most will miss.
"When I came here, Unai told me, 'Douglas, we changed some things in the build-up.' I just try to get everything as quickly as possible to help the team. For example, how we start the game from the goalkeeper, the movements that the midfielders have to do.
"The most difficult at the moment is this one because for one year and a half I could attack more. Now, I am being more calm and not attacking a lot. He has told me, 'Douglas, you can attack but the priority is the structure.' This has changed me a lot."
Whether Luiz will remain at Villa next season is unclear. There is an option but for now it is a loan. Neither party is thinking too far ahead when there is so much to play for. Villa are chasing a European trophy and aiming to hold onto third spot in the Premier League.
"We know it is very difficult because we have Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool behind us. They push a lot and we need to keep going to get the points. We are giving it our best to get this." As for Douglas Luiz, he is just glad to be back to help again.
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