Latest reports from the Herald suggests that Celtic are interested in signing one more Manchester City player on loan before the transfer window shuts this Friday. The midfielder in question here is 20-year-old Douglas Luiz. He was signed for £10m from Vasco Da Gama last season. Celtic and Manchester City seem to share good relationship off the pitch as numerous young City players have been on loan at Parkhead in the last few years, so there is every chance of this move going through in the last few remaining days of the transfer period.
Player Profile:
Full name – Douglas Luiz
Date of birth – 9/5/1998
Born In – Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Height – 5ft9in
Position – Central Midfielder
Current Club: Manchester City
National team: Brazil
Brief History
The 20-year-old came up from very humble beginnings like many Brazilians before him and saw football as the way to get out of poverty.
Luiz joined Vasco Da Gama’s youth setup when he was 14 and soon worked his way up to their first team in three years. He made 15 appearances for his side in 2016 when they achieved promotion to the Brazilian first division, and in the season after that, he was regular for his side in the top division. He was soon drafted into Brazil’s u-20 team, and that brought him international recognition.
He started performing well in the big games for his side and was named in the league’s best XI, and soon scouts from Europe started doing the rounds to sign him up. The player had signed a new contract with Vasco just months before Manchester City offered £10m to acquire his services. That offer was too good to refuse, and the youngster made it to England. City soon loaned him out to La Liga outfit Girona
Player Strengths
Luiz is known to be a good ball playing central midfielder who can play in almost all the roles which are required in midfield. However, he is mostly used as a box to box midfielder as he is good at running with the ball. His ability to find his team-mates is also worth mentioning. He has a certain level of maturity to his game which we don’t see in youngsters, and he often plays with his head up which allows him to look for his team-mates in better positions.
He is decent at defending too as initially, at Vasco, he played as a right back as there was immense competition for a place in midfield. He is good at switching up plays, and his long diagonal balls are to watch out for. Like all Brazilian, he has a bit of flair to his game and is not too shoddy at dribbling as well. However, his biggest strength happens to be his versatility to play in any role in midfield.
Player Weaknesses
He can work on the defensive side of his game a bit more, and he needs to stop himself from lunging into needless challenges now and then. Sometimes off the ball, he lacks coordination with his team-mates and is often seen to break the lines as he tries to retrieve the ball. He can also improve his shot taking abilities from outside the box to get on the scoresheet more often.
Celtic does have a plethora of options for the central midfield position, and it would be tough for the youngster to dislodge Olivier Ntcham and Scott Brown to get regular game time. Nevertheless, he will have a much better chance of getting game time at Celtic Park than at the Etihad. He has the raw talent to become a midfield powerhouse in the future and he just needs to add a bit of tactical nuance to his game to play at the top level regularly.
