David Luiz

[zolayes 14,489]

watching Luiz playing for Brazil I noticed how disciplined he was in holding his position and not bombing forward, Could it be that for Chelsea

the lack of drive out of defence is what causes him to do it.?? Incidentally Ricky was also adventurous at times . I am not convinced

Jose will want to sell him at least I hope not.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

It depends what happens around him, it's always easy to blame a center back to carry the ball out from the back, easy to blame Lampard for being caught out of position, easy to blame a striker who drops deep... the issue when those player lose the ball isn't the fact they actually took a risk, the issue is that there wasn't any passing option around, no one to fill their position or dropping level to them

One expects Mikel to drop when Luiz drives out from the back, but Mikel can only do that when the AM drops as well to fill Mikel's position... Oscar did.

Same when Lampard or Ramires drives forward, Oscar has to drop back several yards.

The issue to resolve is the space between the lines, find a better compactness to work and carry the ball out as a unit. Otherwise we would be exposed and forced to expect from Luiz, Oscar, Ramires, the duty to carry the ball forward between lines of players with 20 yards in between its

Luiz has had a great season because he played most of the season really exposed, without a proper DM ahead of him nor an efficient collective process to regain the ball (others couldn't press as the season went on and they couldn't be rested)

You're alive!

[The Skipper 20,593]

Oscar's had one season in the league and is a young player.

Luiz has had two full seasons with us, and half of another. We signed him at the same time as Torres (I'm happy to write Torres off too, I wasn't last summer).

Torres has actually declined massively. I was in the same boat as you last year, thought we should give Fernando his final chance to prove he's good enough to lead the club as the number 1 striker but he's obviously failed at that so naturally I'd be happy to see him off. Luiz's case is different - he's steadily improved this whole season to the point where he's considered as one of our best players now - and it's clear that he still hasn't reached his prime yet, which I personally think he'll start showing next season under JM. The prospect of Luiz working under Mourinho is mouthwatering in my opinion, he's the perfect coach to bring the best out of David.

I've already said that and I spent most of last season blaming the midfield. However I still think we need at least one CB this summer because I don't think we have a number one defender - Ivanovic and Cahill are both back-ups to me and Luiz is someone who plays alongisde that commanding presence.

I fully agree - but why look at rebuilding something that's one player away from being pretty much perfect when there are other issues that need to be sorted out in the team? Do you seriously think that we would've been so defensively frail if our midfield was solid last season? Of course not. It really makes you think how good Luiz would've been if he had a proper pivot in front of him. It's quite sad actually how disorganised that area of our squad is. If we get a solid midfield we will easily see the best out of Luiz.

I agree with that. I don't think he is the rock, which is why I don't think he's that tough to replace. Whatever happens, we need that rock in defence, that cool, calm, considered presence who you build everything around (including Luiz).

If you tell me right now that we couldn't get someone to replace Luiz in the team who is younger and costs less than £30 million then there's absolutely no discussion to be had regarding DL.

Well personally I don't think there is any defender in the world with the exact skill set as David Luiz, that's how unique of a player he is, and we should be looking at that more than looking for a adequate replacement for £30m. Luiz is practically priceless in my opinion simply because of the skill set and attributes he has. It is very rare that a CB like Luiz comes along, so the fact that we're probably the only top club in Europe that have a CB like him should be exploited and not passed upon.

So you're saying he's irreplaceable. Fair enough. Personally I look at players like Nastasic and Vertonghen and think that maybe he isn't irreplaceable at a fraction of his price. I look at players like Papa and Mangala and think maybe there aren't other younger players out there with potential to be defenders good enough to win trophies with.

But you're saying that with £30 million we couldn't replace Luiz with someone as good. I'm not so sure of that.

Depends what you want to have in your team. I view Luiz as part of our new core very much, behind Mata and Hazard I count him as the most important player going forward. Luiz is a good defender who can have great games defensively but why I'm so hellbent on keeping him is the fact that he brings far more than just that to the team. Luiz is an attacking threat from defence - that in it's own is an unique ability - this ability, if implemented correctly, can be very advantageous to the team - if we implement a system where opponents have to keep an eye on what Luiz is doing it creates more space for those in front of Luiz, causes more tactical confusions for the opposing manager, adds to our offensive threat... There are many possibilities if this is correctly implemented by JM. Lucio was considered by some as the best defender in the world when Jose was at Inter due to the way he brought the ball up and added to the team offensively and I think Jose can do something similar with David.

Alex Song, Fabregas (rumoured to be leaving), Zlatan, Sanchez.....Barca make bad buys as much as anyone. There's also the issue of him perhaps being a better fit for La Liga in a team who dominate possession - that might be a factor.

That's not to say he's not a very good defender, but it comes back to the price being offered.

Definitely agree that Barcelona don't make good signings all the time, no team does, probably going a bit off topic here but personally I don't think Song, Fabregas, Zlatan and Sanchez were bad transfers. Regarding Song, I just think he's been massively underused. Song can easily play in any midfield in the PL right now - I could easily see him starting for United, City, Arsenal, or us. Barcelona have mistreated him more than anything. Zlatan and Sanchez are the unfortunate by product of a Messi-centric team, they're both phenomenal players who would again be star players for most teams in the world but obviously the Barcelona team is far too Messi geared for them to actually shine.

Fabregas is an interesting case, he's actually been decent for Barcelona so I wouldn't call him a bad signing but you're right in saying that he hasn't exactly fitted Barcelona. I think he's too direct for a team like Barca.

I think this is a complete misunderstanding of what we're doing. We're not fixing things, we're building a new team - that's why we've got a new coach.

Now we have parts already, but Jose will build a new team with a new philosophy of football and you start with the foundations. Players like Cech and Azpi are solid but you have to think about this from Jose's point of view - if he's building a defence would he rather have David Luiz or £30 million??

Yeah, we're building a new team but in my opinion we've already formed it's spine and Luiz is very much part of that (again, IMO). It's not like we're starting from scratch - we've got a team with bags of potential in place there already and there's no point in hypothetically using that as an excuse to sell a player when we haven't even anywhere near fully exploited the team's potential.

I'm not saying we should sell him but if someone is having a moment's thought about that choice then I don't really understand them.

Luiz is a phenomenal character, a unique footballer and just someone I love having at the club. But I wouldn't for a second say we'd concede less goals next season with him in the team compared to £30 million investment in the defence. Yes he's been fantastic for the last 6 months and yes he's cut out a lot of the mistakes but that's 1/5th of his time at the club and he still managed to throw a clanger in against Everton.

Again, one thing I hate about the general consensus around Luiz (90% due to the media's campaign against Luiz) is that he can go months without making an error and then when he makes one, people get all self-righteous and think they were right about him all along. Luiz has still been our least error prone defender this season, no matter what way you put it.

As you've rightly pointed out, there are many more intangibles surrounding Luiz which makes him worth a lot more than £30m to me. Football isn't just about a player's skill, it's about their character too and Luiz has both in abundance - this automatically makes him worth a lot more than £30m to me. Luiz is a great player to have for team spirit, I can actually see him and Jose forming a special bond due to them both speaking the same language and their personalities... Add in the fact that we're clearly established as a top 5 European team now there is no reason for a club like us to go around selling our best players.

The moment he does that and people in the stands around me are surprised is the moment I say there's zero sense in selling him. Until that happens, you have to consider offers of this magnitude.

Well, at least give him that chance. I'm sure he deserves that after his performances this season.

[TrippingStep 336]

It depends what happens around him, it's always easy to blame a center back to carry the ball out from the back, easy to blame Lampard for being caught out of position, easy to blame a striker who drops deep... the issue when those player lose the ball isn't the fact they actually took a risk, the issue is that there wasn't any passing option around, no one to fill their position or dropping level to them

One expects Mikel to drop when Luiz drives out from the back, but Mikel can only do that when the AM drops as well to fill Mikel's position... Oscar did.

Same when Lampard or Ramires drives forward, Oscar has to drop back several yards.

The issue to resolve is the space between the lines, find a better compactness to work and carry the ball out as a unit. Otherwise we would be exposed and forced to expect from Luiz, Oscar, Ramires, the duty to carry the ball forward between lines of players with 20 yards in between its

Luiz has had a great season because he played most of the season really exposed, without a proper DM ahead of him nor an efficient collective process to regain the ball (others couldn't press as the season went on and they couldn't be rested)

The big problem was our system and lack of options in the midfield.

On the right side, it was quite ok as Ramires with his mobility would offer a passing solution to the right back and right wing but on the left, there was often no midfielder to link the left back and left midfield even with Benitez approach.

I think that's why Mikel Lampard was awful as there were not moving enough to be linking the back four and the three behind the striker. Lampard was ok when we played counter attack whith his quick passes but when we had to build up the play, he didn't offer many passing solution.

Otherwise, I'm not a great fan of Wigan, against us, we closed the space inside by packing many players on one side and they were inept at moving the ball to the other side of the pitch, they were always trying quick penetrating moves on the side althought there were no space there. Remind me of Lille with Garcia as their coach.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Is it me or has his English pretty much superb now!

It has definitely significantly improved.

him and Ash at the end though!

[LDN Blue 7,903]

How the hell did CFC net get a live telephone call with SSN?? Is that the unofficial forums? I'm confused!

They're technically a 'fanzine' so they have more weight (in essence),

[Tomo 21,685]

Every game Luiz played as CB since RAFA came he was bad!

[Special Juan 27,111]

Luiz will only move to Barcelona if he wishes. I don't think he wants to move but if he does, he is gone.

This is quite amazing...read it people, read it.

[Jase 43,479]

ChelsTransferGossip ‏@ChelsTransfer

The future of David Luiz is also in increasing doubt with #PSG now understood to be prepared a bid for the defender #CFC (Telegraph)

And it's to PSG now...

[Jase 43,479]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/10098265/Jose-Mourinho-set-to-decide-on-John-Terrys-future-at-Chelsea-with-Monaco-keen-to-sign-defender.html

The future of David Luiz is also in increasing doubt with Paris St-Germain now understood to be prepared to bid for the 26-year-old defender as a replacement for fellow Brazilian Alex.

Luiz is happy at Chelsea but that situation could be tested if Barcelona also make a bid for him. It is believed that Chelsea would be willing to sell for around £40 million euros which would help Mourinho’s re-shaping of the squad.

Mourinho does not want to force Luiz out but realises that the player is one of his most saleable assets and could be expendable even though he signed a new long-term contract at the start of last season.

Luiz would be interested in moving to Barcelona while there is also the possibility of Real Madrid entering the bidding but only if they sell Pepe which is thought unlikely this summer.

Real hope to announce that Carlo Ancelotti is leaving PSG to become their new coach and the club’s clear priority is bidding for Tottenham Hotspur’s Gareth Bale and Liverpool’s Luis Suarez.

If Luiz did leave it would be a surprise given he is not only regarded as a favourite of Roman Abramovich but has been earmarked as a future Chelsea captain. He is a popular member of the squad, especially with its young core of Portuguese and Spanish speakers.

[Slam Dunk 1,442]

Anyone else interested? Anzhi? Monaco? City? £35M and we'll talk.

[edenhazard17 281]

Found this article sometimes ago...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1298628/Chelsea-lead-chase-David-Luiz-Jose-Mourinho-gives-up.html

David Luiz boost for Chelsea as Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid are priced out of race for Benfica star

Jose Mourinho has cleared the path for Chelsea to sign David Luiz by signalling that the Benfica star is too expensive for Real Madrid.

The Bernabeu boss made Luiz one of his primary targets when taking over from Manuel Pellegrini at the end of last season, but a spiralling price tag has put off the Spanish giants.

Chelsea are preparing a new £27m bid for Luiz, though Benfica are demanding more than £30m for 23-year-old and hope Manchester City will re-enter the race.

Mourinho is a confirmed admirer of the versatile defender, who is in line to make his full Brazil debut next month, but the Portuguese said: 'I like him a lot, but he won't come to Madrid this year.

'It will be very difficult for him to leave. I'm not thinking about him at all this year. There was some contact, but the price is prohibitive.

So, now that Jose finally got Luiz, then sure he want to sell him??

Media, just shut the rumour up.

[Ollie 4,400]

The media just assume that he's not the type of player Jose wants and write shit. People forget the amount of goals Real scored under Jose.

[Mceachran 109]

Is it me or is his English pretty much superb now!

He absolutely did not want to stand there and talk hahaha. Great English indeed!

[The Skipper 20,593]

BBC Sport's Saj Chowdhury reports: "Barcelona are not interested in signing Chelsea defender signing David Luiz, according to a source close to the Spanish champions. However, the Catalan giants have made strengthening the defence their number one priority and have already begun their pursuit. Barca were interested in bringing Paris St-Germain's Brazilian centre-back Thiago Silva to the Nou Camp, but they could not afford to match his salary demands."

[OneMoSalah 8,619]

Barca are cunts. Think they can get everyone cheap. Thats not how shit works these days. You want Thiago Silva you pay more than what PSG did, which was what 40 million or something? Cheeky bastards they are, throwing in 10-20 million offers for players worth more than that! Do they think that selling to Barca is really honorable or something hahahahhaha cunts

[robsblubot 3,262]

Barca are cunts. Think they can get everyone cheap. Thats not how shit works these days. You want Thiago Silva you pay more than what PSG did, which was what 40 million or something? Cheeky bastards they are, throwing in 10-20 million offers for players worth more than that! Do they think that selling to Barca is really honorable or something hahahahhaha cunts

that and they don't have any cash because the Neymar saga cost them a total of 57M euros.

I think in the long run Neymar will deliver, he's only 21 after all, but their short term needs (in defense) will go unanswered for a while, which is good news to all other clubs.

[Barbara 15,149]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/10098265/Jose-Mourinho-set-to-decide-on-John-Terrys-future-at-Chelsea-with-Monaco-keen-to-sign-defender.html

I call it bullshit and rubbish

Why would Mou mention Luiz when referring to the guys he's looking forward to work with if he thinks he's saleable?

Players are only saleable under Mourinho when they don't fit and even a blind can say Luiz fits perfectly.

I don't believe Mou wants to offload him, but if he wants to leave (something I feel like he doesn't, but you know never know which kind of bid he's got) then it's on him, not Mou thinking he's saleable...