Is Juventus's €50 million signing Douglas Luiz a flop?

Italian giant Juventus started the season with two wins under new coach Thiago Motta, but two consecutive draws have followed. First, Roma held the Old Lady to a point, and yesterday Empoli earned a draw as well. Once again, the match ended goalless, and Juventus needs to show much more in the attacking phase.

Coach Thiago Motta will also need to get more out of his expensive summer signing. Douglas Luiz has been a disappointment, which is concerning for Juventus.

The club spent €50 million to bring the Brazilian midfielder from Aston Villa. Yesterday, the coach gave him his first start, but Luiz failed to seize the opportunity. It was a similar story in previous games when he came on as a substitute.

Against Empoli, Luiz was practically invisible. He even had to surrender his corner-taking duties to Teun Koopmeiners after delivering poor crosses. The directive came from captain Federico Gatti, who had enough of the 26-year-old Brazilian’s poor deliveries. Cynical fans on social media are joking that Luiz is “Brazilian only on paper.”

Juventus will now shift focus to the Champions League, where they will host PSV the day after tomorrow. After that, they face Napoli in Serie A.

Dopo Empoli-Juve il sospetto si fa strada: che i 150 milioni spesi per Douglas Luiz, Koopmeiners e Nico Gonzalez siano stati una follia assoluta?
Giuntoli è stato fatto passare dai media per genio della lampada; ma anche se nessuno osa dirlo, la verità è che l'investimento… pic.twitter.com/RDvhbjkhc0

— Paolo Ziliani (@ZZiliani) September 14, 2024