The swashbuckling Spanish playmaker who might replace Douglas Luiz at Aston Villa
Aston Villa are rumoured to have interest in a summer move for one of Spain’s most consistently impressive midfielders - but is he the man to replace Douglas Luiz?
It’s been an exceptionally busy start to the transfer window for Aston Villa – and if the Daily Express are to be believed, it’s isn’t going to slow down any time soon. Having already agreed the signing of Chelsea left-back Ian Maatsen and given youngsters Tim Ireogebunam and Omari Kellyman the go-ahead to leave Villa Park, they are now alleged to be interested in signing Real Sociedad and Spain midfielder Brais Méndez. But who is Méndez, and how would he fit into Unai Emery’s system?
The 27-year-old emerged from Celta Vigo’s youth system in 2017, quickly establishing himself as a regular at the La Liga club and earning the first of an eventual four caps for the senior national side the following year, scoring the only goal of the game on his debut against Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Although he never established himself as a regular for his country, he continued to impress at club level, scoring regularly from midfield (his best season was in 2022/23 when he scored 11 goals) and eventually earning a move to Sociedad two years ago - Manchester United fans may recall him as the scorer of the penalty which saw them slump to a 1-0 Europa League defat to Sociedad back in 2022, far from the first or last set-piece goal Méndez has scored.
An attacking midfielder, Méndez can play as a number ten but more often operates a little deeper for Sociedad, although he still regularly gets forward down the channels or the right flank – over the course of the 2023/24 season he generated 4.2 expected goals and the exact same number of expected assists in the Spanish top flight, exceeding both numbers to serve up 11 goal contributions. Méndez is a dangerous attacking threat with impressive finishing and an eye for a final ball.
He's also a good dribbler and technician who is comfortable taking opposing defenders on to break the lines, but he’s even better at getting his team downfield off the ball – his movement is impressive and he has the knack of finding unguarded half-spaces between defence and attack to give attacking moves room to breathe. Those same late runs work just as well when he’s getting into the penalty area, too, and many of his goals come from last-minute darts into the box to link up with a team-mate when a defender isn’t expecting it.
It will help his adjustment to Emery’s system that he’s a hard-working player in the press, too, but he shouldn’t be seen as a direct replacement for Douglas Luiz, who is likely to join Juventus in the coming days – he isn’t a do-it-all midfielder who crops up all over the pitch, but rather a discipline player will to put the hard yards in even if he doesn’t generate enormous numbers of turnovers.
Still, he could easily work alongside a more defensively sound midfielder such as Boubacar Kamara and offer a lot of the departing Luiz’s offensive capacity, creativity and ability to spark fast attacks on the break – and he’s played plenty of games on the right wing during his career as well, so he would also offer a much-needed depth option down the flank, too.
It's hard to gauge how likely this rumour is to come to fruition. No transfer fee is mentioned by the Express and the story hasn’t been convincingly corroborated by other sources as yet, not that that should be taken to mean it isn’t true. Méndez will certainly be on Emery’s radar one way or the other, and he offers qualities they may well need.
If Villa’s interest is genuine and he emerges as their number one target, expect to see movement only after Luiz has been sold and after 1 July, when the Premier League’s profit and sustainability deadline resets. It’s possible that the cost of a deal ends up being too high for Villa’s liking, as well, given that Méndez is under contract until 2028 and could also be of interest to other teams. The Express claim that Manchester United, Juventus and AS Roma are all taking a look too.
But if this deal gets over the line, it’s an extremely solid signing for a team hoping to hang on to top four status in the coming years, and he could well replicate a lot of the important work that Luiz did for the team over the course of the last year – but there’s a long way to go before this moves from rumour to a picture of Méndez with a pen in his hand and Emery’s arm around his shoulder.