Mikel Arteta told club would accept Smith-Rowe swap deal for £60m valued premier league midfielder

Kieran Gibbs thinks Arsenal should push to sign Aston Villa midfielder, Douglas Luiz.

The January transfer window is open and rumours are starting to swirl around in a crazy fashion, no more so than for Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta’s Premier League title push has hit a wall over the festive period, with worrying defeats to West Ham United and Fulham.

As a result, fans are eager for their team to sign a striker because of their lack of goals, especially from open play.

But former left-back Kieran Gibbs thinks Arsenal are better off bulking up their midfield instead and he feels Douglas Luiz could be a viable option, as he told ESPN.

The one big stumbling block for the Gunners is the price tag that would be on the Aston Villa’s star head, he is his side’s best and most important player, not forgetting that Unai Emery has them in second place in the Premier League table.

But Kieran Gibbs that could be sorted with a possible ‘swap deal’, as he threw in the names of Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe.

Douglas Luiz to Arsenal?

“For me, if you’re not going to get a striker and go all out offensively and just try blow teams away,” said Gibbs.

“Then you need to shore up the midfield and just try to shut up shop. They have kept one clean sheet in the last seven. That’s not the Arsenal we have seen over the last 18 months.

“It’s probably best to go and get someone like a Douglas Luiz.

On being told Arsenal don’t have money to get Luiz: “Yeah, you can swap players. There are deals to be done there for sure. There is Emile Smith Rowe. Eddie (Nketiah). There are other players. There are definitely deals to be done for something.”

Aston Villa in a powerful position

The Midlands side have been here before with the Brazil international and back then he snubbed a move to the Emirates and signed a new deal.

Now, Villa are in a more powerful position because Luiz’s contract runs until 2026, plus they are above Arsenal in the Premier League table.

This isn’t a case of the seven-goal midfielder never being for sale, everyone has their price, as they proved with Jack Grealish’s move to Manchester City.

But it’s going to take serious money to prize Luiz away from a club looking to get into the Champions League.