Owen Hargreaves claims Aston Villa man is better than Declan Rice defensively

Former Manchester United and England midfielder Owen Hargreaves has heaped praise on the form of Aston Villa star Douglas Luiz as he continues to shine in the Premier League and attract interest from Arsenal.

In fact, Hargreaves even went as far as to say that he thinks Luiz is currently doing better defensive work in midfield than Arsenal’s Declan Rice, who joined for over £100million from West Ham in the summer.

One imagines plenty of Gunners fans would love to see Luiz coming in to partner Rice in the future, but it remains to be seen if Villa will let the Brazilian go for anything like a reasonable price.

Still, it’s clear Luiz is now in that top tier of midfield player, with Hargreaves comparing him to the likes of Rice and Manchester City star Rodri.

“Douglas Luiz has put himself into a category now after Rodri and along with Declan Rice as the elite defensive midfield players in the Premier League, Bruno Guimaraes is another one of those, but Douglas Luiz is better defensively and that’s why I think he’s very unique,” Hargreaves said.

Big claims by the pundit! Let us know your thoughts on how Luiz measures up against the likes of Rice in the comments!