Arsenal’s David Luiz reacts after he is sent off after conceding a penalty as play resumes behind closed doors (Source: Reuters)
Arsenal’s David Luiz, who had a terrible day when they played Manchester City in the restart of football after three months, will have his future decided at the club this week, according to his agent Kia Joorabchian.
Having come on as a 20th-minute substitute for the injured Pablo Mari, Luiz was responsible for giving City the lead of two goals before being sent off. The 33-year old was at fault for Raheem Sterling’s opening goal and then gave away a penalty converted by Kevin De Bruyne early in the second half, with his foul on Riyad Mahrez also producing the red card.
Luiz’ contract with the Gunners expires on June 30 having only signed a one-year contract when joining the club from Chelsea in an £8 million deal last summer. Speaking to talkSPORT in an interview, Joorabchian said, “The situation from Arsenal’s point of view will be resolved this week,” he said. “I think it’s just not Luiz’s situation. There are several issues within the whole structure that will get resolved. June 23 is the deadline for most of the clubs to renew their contracts so that they can finish the season off and beyond.”
“The contract situation has dragged on not because of any reason, not because of the will of David or Arsenal to finalise but really the situation that has occurred with this pandemic. And as I have repeatedly said all through the pandemic, at the moment the most important thing is to get football back, not to talk about contracts, futures etc.
“Now it becomes a moment where you have got 14 days left, you are at a critical point in your career where you have probably got three, four, five years left at the very top level, it is in the back of your mind. But that’s not an excuse of yesterday’s performance. He also said ‘I’m not using this as any excuse.’ They played one of the best teams in England and Arsenal’s lack of shots on goal and lack of control of the game would have put pressure on the defence and with no excuse whatsoever, David wanted a different type of game,” added Joorabchian.
Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta defended Luiz, saying “We need to be fair on him. Me personally I am going to defend him with everything I have because I believe in him. He has shown me a lot of things in his time here and his career speaks for itself,” said Arteta.
“Again, we have to adapt. It is what it is. That is why I wanted to protect David yesterday. That is why I did not start him. But it’s a funny game and after 20 minutes you need him, a player who has had a lot of uncertainty in the last few weeks,” the coach added.
Arsenal are ninth with 40 points from 28 matches.