82
(^) Daily Mail, Thursday, August 8, 2019
Transfer Deadline Day
THE TWO
SIDES OF
DAVID
LUIZ
He’s charming
and funny... but
quick to brood if
the love dries up
D
avid Luiz sat on
the back seat of the
bus bound for a
school in Boston
and could not have
seemed more content with
life at Chelsea.
He had recently met Roman
abramovich, who had been pre-
pared to waive the club protocol of
insisting upon nothing more than
a one-year contract extension for
players over 30 in order to keep
Luiz at Stamford Bridge for two
more years.
Otherwise, the Brazilian would
have been walking out on a free
transfer this summer with the
prospect of a lucrative move and
plenty of interest, including from
his former Paris Saint-Germain
boss unai Emery at arsenal.
‘Chelsea is inside my heart,’ he
said and, with unflinching eye-
contact, appeared for all the world
as if he meant it. ‘it means a lot to
sign a new contract. i had other
options but i always look to try to
find a new challenge in my life —
i can see the challenge is here.
i want to do more for this club.’
Luiz is a big personality. When he
is happy, he is happy in a big way.
Everybody knows about it. He is
all smiles and ‘all right my man’
and warm handshakes.
in america he was happy,
embracing his role as a senior pro
and dressing-room leader when
others were hiding.
He charmed the schoolchildren
during that community visit and
posed patiently for selfies with
police officers providing the team
escort, before climbing back on
board the bus.
intelligent and articulate, Luiz
told how he had been ruled unfit
on the eve of the Champions
League final in 2012 but insisted
on playing.
Not only did he make it through
120 minutes, he stepped up to
score in the shootout.
Moreover, he spoke supportively
of Maurizio Sarri at a time when
the manager was not popular and
his future was in
doubt, backing him
to win the Europa
League.
He championed
the club’s young
academy graduates
to seize their
chance amid the
threat of the trans-
fer ban and the exit
of Eden Hazard.
Luiz in this mode
is captaincy mate-
rial. Brimming with
positive energy, he
shoulders the bur-
den of responsibility
and leans into his
role. With Hazard on
his way to Real
Madrid, he became
arguably the most recognisable
face in the Chelsea squad.
When Frank Lampard arrived as
manager, Luiz stepped forward to
promote the new regime and its
return to old values.
Yet, for all this, when things turn
against him, Luiz is quick to sulk,
prone to brood and not so slow
to untangle himself from a
disagreement.
He was deeply hurt by critics
such as Gary Neville, who mocked
his defensive acumen when he first
arrived in English football from
Benfica and picked at scars
throughout his first spell at
the Bridge.
When he returned, Luiz fell out
with antonio Conte when he stood
up to the italian after a Champi-
ons League game at Roma to
speak on behalf of his fellow cen-
tre-halves antonio Rudiger and
Gary Cahill about who ought to
play on the right and who on
the left.
Chelsea were awful that night in
Rome. Two down at half-time, they
lost 3-0 and Conte froze out Luiz
and turned to andreas Chris-
tensen. it would be more than
three months before the manager
selected him to start a Premier
League game again.
When he was eventually recalled
in February, with Christensen
injured, Luiz performed poorly and
Chelsea were thrashed 4-1 at
Watford. it was a desperate per-
formance, the nadir for Conte who,
in truth, had lost the hearts of the
Brazilian players as soon as he
ostracised diego Costa. Kenedy
yawned in a post-Roma team
meeting and enraged Conte fur-
ther as Luiz was the only player to
engage in debate with the
manager.
Sarri arrived last summer and
told him it would be best if he left,
but within a week of training had
changed his mind.
Not only did Luiz make 50
appearances during a season in
which he turned 32, but he did not
miss a single training session, a
proud record which has failed to
make it beyond the opening
fixture of the new campaign.
With Chelsea preparing for
Manchester united on Sunday, he
did not take part in the session
with Lampard’s first team yester-
day as a possible move to arsenal
took shape with similar haste to
his surprise return from PSG on
deadline day three years ago.
Luiz, it transpires, has grown
increasingly concerned about his
future under Lampard and fears
the new manager prefers a combi-
nation of Christensen, Kurt zouma
and Rudiger, when he is fit after a
knee injury.
He thought he had been singled
out for blame for defensive frailties
on display when six goals were
conceded in two friendlies at
Reading and Red Bull Salzburg.
Christensen and zouma were in
tandem at Borussia Monchenglad-
bach on Saturday and Luiz did not
even appear from the bench.
The idea of hurrying him out at a
time when Chelsea are banned
from signing players and low on
experience does not reflect well on
Luiz. it hints heavily at Lampard’s
concern about the impact a disil-
lusioned Luiz might have on the
playing environment.
They were team-mates who
shared their greatest triumph in
Munich, revelling in Champions
League glory. They know each
other well. it will mark a suitably
strange end to a Chelsea career
for the enduring riddle that is
david Luiz.
by MATT
BARLOW
Putting the
boot in: Luiz
in Japan last
month and
(left) with
Lampard
GETTY IMAGES
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