EXCLUSIVE
Concern?
New David Luiz contract ‘tells you where Arsenal are right now,’ says ex-Chelsea defender Jason Cundy
Jason Cundy has questioned Arsenal’s decision to hand David Luiz a new one-year contract.
On Wednesday morning, the Gunners confirmed the Brazilian defender will be extending his stay in north London, despite struggling for form since arriving in an £8million deal from Chelsea last summer.
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Luiz has given away four penalties in an Arsenal shirt, with his latest gaffe coming in last week’s 3-0 defeat by Man City where he was shown a red card in a disastrous 25-minute horror show.
And former Chelsea defender Cundy believes Luiz’s new contract ‘tells you where Arsenal are right now’.
The Sports Bar host said on talkSPORT: “There will be quite mixed views about it. It probably tells you a little bit about where Arsenal are right now.
“David Luiz is an excellent footballer. He is one of the best passing centre-backs I’ve seen; his array of passes with both feet is brilliant, but at times, defensively, he goes to sleep.
“He thinks he’s better than he is when he defends. He’s better in a three because he’s got cover.
“In a four, sometimes he can get torn apart. I’ve seen it too many times in a blue shirt and I’ve seen it so many times in a red shirt this season.
“He’s a lovely boy, he’s a trier, he won’t shirk, he’s not one of those players that will hide.
“He’s not a leader in the true sense of the word, but it probably tells you where Arsenal are and what they’re thinking about next season.
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“The fact that they signed David Luiz in the transfer window this time last year for around £8m… and I said this the other day, if he’s not good enough for Chelsea right now, why is he good enough for Arsenal?”
Speaking over the weekend, Arsenal legend Perry Groves admitted the club’s fans could lose faith in manager Mikel Arteta if he kept Luiz.
The former Gunners winger told talkSPORT: “He’s 33 now and keeps making the same mistakes.
“He can play one brilliant game in six where you think what a player he is, pinging it 60, 70 yards, getting in front of the centre-forward and nicking it.
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“But then another three or four of those games, he’ll make a ricket or he won’t concentrate.
“If Arteta signs David Luiz, Arteta will come under pressure from Arsenal fans.
“They will lose faith in Arteta because it’s blatantly obvious that he [Luiz] is always going to cause you problems.
“Arteta wants to play a back four, he wants to play a high line, he wants to play a pressing game and David Luiz can’t do that.”
Listen to a clip of Jason Cundy on talkSPORT, above...
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