Why Douglas Luiz screams transfer bargain potential for Everton

Everton are always in the market for shrewd transfer business, and Douglas Luiz ticks that box.

With Idrissa Gana Gueye now a free agent, Everton have lost a big veteran presence from their midfield engine room.

The Toffees have moved to bolster their central midfield department with the signing of ex-Middlesbrough star Hayden Hackney, however.

David Moyes may not be done shopping in this area of the pitch though, and Juventus outcast Luiz could be available for relatively cheap this summer.

Now back in Turin following loan moves with Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa last season respectively, the 18-cap Brazilian international looks sure to leave Juve in the coming weeks.

And, if Everton can get a deal done with Juventus, then they may just quietly make one of the bargain signings of the summer Premier League transfer window.

How Douglas Luiz was among Premier League's best in 2025-26

If you were to ask the average Premier League fan to name their top five defensive midfielders in the division in 2025-26, very few, if any, would say Luiz's name.

Indeed, he only played a total of 21 times in England's top flight last term across his two aforementioned loan spells, culminating in 12 starts and just over 900 minutes of league action.

Goodison News has covered reports of Everton getting encouraging transfer signals from Juventus on Luiz, and if the Serie A giants are indeed willing to sell, the Toffees should be very sweet on making a deal happen.

As per FotMob, Luiz ranked in the top 7.4 percentile of all Premier League defensive midfielders in 2025-26 for his 83.1 touches and 0.29 times dispossessed average per 90 minutes.

He also placed in the leading 8.6 per cent of his positional rivals for his 57.3 successful passes per game, as well as placing in the top 9.9 per cent with his 1.85 chances created per 90 respectively.

Luiz also played 2.83 accurate long balls, delivered 1.07 successful crosses, registered 0.49 shots on target, made 1.46 interceptions and recorded a 90 per cent passing accuracy per game in the Premier League.

There is one trait in his game that would split opinion among Everton fans though, and it relates to his disciplinary record.

Why Luiz may not help Everton make disciplinary progress

In 2025-26, Everton committed the eighth-most fouls per game in the Premier League with an average of 10.8.

The Toffees also ranked ninth for yellow cards received with 72 and were shown the joint-second most red cards with four respectively.

So in many ways, Luiz would be a good match for Everton, as he too has struggled staying in the referees' good books in recent years.

Last season saw him pick up a total of six yellow cards across all competitions, with three of those coming in the Premier League.

He collected two yellows from 516 minutes of Serie A football in 2024-25, which worked out an average of 0.35 per game.

And in 2023-24, Luiz was shown a whopping 12 yellow cards, with only Joao Palhinha (then of Fulham) and Marcos Senesi (then of Bournemouth) picking up more than he did with 13 each.

This penchant for bookings will be divisive amongst Everton supporters if he was to sign, as some will want to see their defensive midfielder picking up yellows and take it as a sign that he's battling away to win the midfield battle.

On the other hand, there will be those who see this as Luiz having the potential to be somewhat of a liability, and could put Everton at a disadvantage in matches if he's consistently walking a tightrope.

Overall though, Luiz did produce some very strong per 90 numbers in the Premier League last term, and if he's available at a discount price, Everton should feel the pros outweigh the cons here.