Gianfranco Zola has appeared to question Chelsea’s decision to sell David Luiz by piling praise on the now Arsenal defender, report the Metro.
Luiz signed for the Gunners on deadline day after seemingly being deemed surplus to requirements by new manager Frank Lampard.
Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen could be our centre-back pairing for a decade, so it’s a smart move from Lampard to prioritise their development.
It was at Luiz’s expense though, which Zola appears unsure whether was a good decision from his successors at Stamford Bridge.
Zola is quoted by the Metro praising Luiz and revealing just how important he was for Chelsea during his time at the club:
“It’s certainly good business for Arsenal because they are acquiring a player with a lot of personality, a lot of influence, and seeing the type of team that Arsenal are, it will be very beneficial for them. He has big influence with the other players. He is a leader, he definitely is a leader. He always gets the attention of the others. He’s a very intelligent player and person and so the others listen to him.
Last year, for example, he was very important for players like [Antonio] Rudiger, they were always looking up to him, especially for a team that is trying to play football from the back – like we were, and like Arsenal are. It’s very important to have somebody who takes responsibility when he plays, very important.
…My first reaction was that something must have happened in the changing room because I couldn’t see him leaving the club. ‘They always gave him a big value for what he did in the changing room. [Gary] Cahill leaving was another one, another big voice, I didn’t expect him to leave.”
Zola is not wrong in saying that Luiz is an unusually good distributor from the back, he neglected to mention that he is unreliable in the defensive third.
At 32-years-old, the time arrived for Luiz to be phased out and Lampard deserves credit for being brave enough to do it so soon into his tenure.
