Jose Mourinho hijacks Everton deal to sign Douglas Luiz
Everton have been working hard to try to complete the signing of Douglas Luiz from Juventus this summer.
The former Aston Villa midfielder spent the 2024/25 campaign away from the Premier League, but could be about to return after falling badly out of favour at Juventus.
Everton were handed a major boost in their bid to sign Luiz when the Brazilian failed to show his face as Juventus returned for pre-season training on Thursday (24 July).
David Moyes is keen to add the 27-year-old to his ranks, but it now seems as though they are about to face even more competition for his signature.
Fenerbahce are trying to convince Luiz to join
Everton’s chase of Luiz is expected to come to a head imminently, as Juventus’ hierarchy want to speak to him ahead of their pre-season tour to Germany next week.
The Old Lady are seemingly intent on getting him out of the door within the next few weeks, and there is no shortage of teams who are waiting for the possibility to bring him in.
Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce are now showing an interest in the midfielder, according to the print edition of Gazzetta Dello Sport (27 July, pg. 13).
Everton, Nottingham Forest and West Ham have all made moves to try and sign Luiz, who is thought to be keen to return to the Premier League.
However, there could now be another option on the table for him, as Mourinho is trying to derail a move to England and convince him to make the switch to Istanbul.
The Portuguese boss is understood to be ready to enter negotiations with Juventus, and is prepared to offer former Fiorentina man Sofyan Amrabat as a potential sweetener in the deal.
Everton need to move on from Luiz
The saga surrounding Luiz’s future has rumbled on for several weeks now, and the Toffees should now be looking to turn their back on any potential deal.
The midfielder has previously opted to put a move to Everton on hold, after the Merseysiders had made an advancement, and that should tell them everything they need to know about where his head is at.
| Apps | Goals | Assists |
| 175 | 20 | 18 |
He is not viewing a move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium as a priority; otherwise, he would have jumped at the chance to get a contract signed.
Moyes will know that he has reservations about making the switch, and he will surely only want players within his squad who are desperate to be there and are prepared to fight tooth and nail to achieve the club’s goals.
With that in mind, now is the time for Everton to step away and turn their attention towards other potential targets.
Sign up for the Goodison News WhatsApp channel and turn on notifications to have all the latest, breaking Everton news sent straight to your phone.