Blues miss out as midfielder chooses familiar Premier League home over Stamford Bridge, preferring a return to his former club.
With there now being less than a week remaining of the winter transfer window, rumours and speculation are seriously beginning to heat up, as is often the case.
Regarding Chelsea, things have been quieter than usual, but there have been links here and there. The likes of Bayern Munich's Kim Min-jae and Jeremy Jacquet of Rennes have been mentioned.
Another player mentioned is Douglas Luiz. The midfielder is currently under contract with Serie A giants Juventus but has spent the first half of the season on loan at Nottingham Forest.
However, things have not gone as planned for the Brazilian international in the East Midlands. He has played just 724 minutes in all competitions, the equivalent of around eight complete games.
Nevertheless, he is a talented player, and there was talk he could join fellow South Americans, Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez in the middle of the park at Stamford Bridge, as well as compatriot Andrey Santos.
According to BBC Sport, Luiz is returning to Aston Villa, the club he spent five years at between 2019 and 2024. They report that Chelsea had shown an interest in the midfielder, but the player preferred a return back to his old club.
So, there will be no joining up with countrymen Santos, Joao Pedro, and Estevao for Luiz in West London. As mentioned earlier, he is a talented player who would have added extra depth to the side, but this is not the end of the world.
Still, with Romeo Lavia permanently in the treatment room, an extra body in the middle of the park would not go a miss. Chelsea are playing two games a week a lot of the time, and could do with giving other players in there more of a rest from time to time.
For example, Fernandez has already played 2596 minutes this season for The Blues, and another 78 for Argentina. Meanwhile, Caicedo has played 2280 minutes for Chelsea, as well as 230 for Ecuador - on top of all of the travel and jet lag.
However, with Lavia simply unable to be counted on, they have to play more minutes than they would ideally like. Having an extra player in there would be hugely beneficial.
It seems like Luiz is joining Villa on loan with an option to buy. That sort of deal would have been very handy for Chelsea. Low cost signing to add depth, and if it doesn't work out, they wouldn't have had to buy him this summer, and could have moved on to other targets.
So, a bit of a shame, but we move on.
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