Over the last few years, Manchester City have had a policy of inserting buy-back clauses when they sell some of their more promising young players. For instance, City insisted on the right to re-sign Pedro Porro for €20m (about £17m) when he joined Sporting, though they ultimately decided not to challenge Spurs for his signature in 2023.
Likewise, had Romeo Lavia stayed at Southampton for a second campaign after leaving the Etihad, City would have been able to bring him back for £40m this summer. Instead, he wound up signing for Premier League rivals Chelsea within 12 months.
Then there's Douglas Luiz, who joined City from Brazilian club Vasco de Gama in 2017 but never kicked a competitive ball for the club. He was immediately sent to City Football Group side Girona on a two-year loan, and when that concluded, he was sold to Aston Villa for just under €17m (£15m). City's option to re-sign him for £25m expired in the summer of 2021, but they appear to have kept tabs on his progress ever since.
Guardiola performs Luiz u-turn
According to Football Insider, Manchester City want Douglas Luiz to return to the Etihad. Pep Guardiola specifically is a "huge fan" of the Brazilian after noticing a "significant" improvement over the past couple of years.
As such, the reigning champions are now "stepping up their interest" ahead of the summer transfer window, when they could go toe-to-toe with Arsenal for his signature.
Luiz may have made City regret sale
Labelled "fantastic" by pundit Clinton Morrison, Luiz has arguably been one of the best midfielders in the league this season, doing a bit of everything for Unai Emery's side. First and foremost, he's been directly involved in 13 goals, four of them penalties, which is second only to Brighton's Pascal Gross among players in his position.
Rank
Player
Club
G+A
1
Pascal Gross
Brighton and Hove Albion
14
2
Douglas Luiz
Aston Villa
13
3
Martin Odegaard
Arsenal
11
=4
James Maddison
Tottenham Hotspur
9
=4
John McGinn
Aston Villa
9
=4
Declan Rice
Arsenal
9
=4
Rodri
Manchester City
9
8
Bruno Fernandes
Manchester United
8
9
Scott McTominay
Manchester United
8
10
Morgan Gibbs-White
Nottingham Forest
7
Luiz is nearing double figures for this season after netting twice in Villa's 4-2 win over Nottingham Forest last weekend, but he's also been the team's chief playmaker, ranking first for chances created (40) and shot-creating actions (90, 24 from set-pieces). He's often been the man playing the final ball but he can also fashion dangerous situations from deeper areas, having recorded the second most passes into the final third (108) and progressive passes (139) in the squad.
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On top of that, he also leads the way for tackles won (37) and blocked passes (22), so he's highly active out of possession too. Nominated for the league's player of the month award in October, he's looking more complete than ever, and some would say that City made a mistake letting him go in the first place.