During two trophy-laden spells at Chelsea, David Luiz turned out for the club almost 250 times, helping the Blues win the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and Europa League.
But shortly after signing a new contract in 2019 and just weeks after he started in Chelsea’s 4-1 Europa League final win over Arsenal, the Brazilian defender signed for the Gunners in an £8million deal.
The reason for making this bold move across the capital with the ink on his new deal still wet was a simple one - the hiring of his former teammate Frank Lampard as Chelsea boss.
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Luiz on why Lampard’s Chelsea wasn’t for him
Luiz has recently turned 30 when Lampard, fresh from a stint on charge of Derby County, was handed the Stamford Bridge top job, but age was not a factor for Luiz, who is still playing as a 39-year-old for Cypriot side Pafos.
“I was already over 30 and had renewed my contract with Chelsea,” Luiz tells FourFourTwo. “No-one had ever broken the club policy of renewing for two years after the age of 30, and I renewed for two years.
“Then after two months, I went to Arsenal. It was down to the decision to bring Frank Lampard in as manager. In pre-season, I already could see the way he was going to play wasn’t going to leave me happy.
“At that age, I thought “I want to enjoy the game in the way I play it”, so it was better to leave.”
For Luiz, this was a decision made as a matter of principle.
“There are two kinds of workers in life,” he continues. “Those who work to protect themselves and the job, and those who want to do something different. In any company, 90 per cent protect the job, but I want to be part of the 10 per cent.
“It would have been easy to have stayed quietly at Chelsea, but I’m not like that. So I sat down with Frank Lampard and said ‘I want to leave – the way you’re going to play won’t be good for me, and the way I’d play in your system won’t be good for you either’.”
A year after playing his final match for Chelsea against Arsenal in the Europa League final, there was another twist of fate for Luiz.
“Life is so funny – later that season, the FA Cup final was between Arsenal and Chelsea. I leave, telling the manager I don’t think his philosophy would suit me, that maybe it wouldn’t work to win anything, then at the end of the season the final is against him.
“So if I won, in theory I was right. If I lost, I wasn’t. Thank God, we managed to win, and I was very respectful in the way I behaved, not celebrating, and respecting the history I built at Chelsea.”
