According to the BBC, David Luiz (pictured on the right) will become an Arsenal player later today after Chelsea agreed to sell the 32-year-old for £8 million.
Having struggled to make a deal for Juventus’ Daniele Rugani and with RB Leipzig’s Dayot Upamecano looking too expensive, reports surfaced yesterday of our interest in the Brazil international as a cheaper alternative.
Luiz only signed a new two-year deal at Stamford Bridge in May but is said to have had a series of run-ins with the new Lampard regime over the summer.
It’s no secret that we need reinforcements in the centre of defence with Laurent Koscielny leaving, Rob Holding still working his way back from his ACL injury and Shkodran Mustafi’s form on the rocks.
Luiz would at least bring experience. And hair. He brings a lot of hair. Edu obviously knows him from the Brazil set-up and Unai Emery worked with him at PSG for a few weeks before he was sold back to Chelsea in 2016.
Admittedly, it feels like a bit of a panic buy, but at this point, it is what it is. Centre-backs don’t grow on trees.
Luiz should arrive at London Colney for his medical this morning and the paperwork will need to be done by 5pm.
We ain’t fucking about no more.
https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/transfer-news/arsenal-transfer-news-shkodran-mustafi-16703615
Reading from an albeit unreliable source Mustafi to Monaco for €30M. If that happens on top of the rest of this Raul needs a statue…
But saying that if Mustafi leaves, are we short at the back again? Or are we ok for numbers considering Monreal could shift more premanently to a backup CB/LB dual option with Tierny (if he makes it here)…?
If Musti leaves for that fee, we might be able to bring a very decent replacement for the cash remaining. One dares to hope on the Upamecano deal coming through ?
The problem is timing – there isn’t long left now. Selling clubs have the advantage as the clock ticks down, and remember that the selling club itself may need to bring in a replacement unless they have “one they made earlier” in their squad. While I don’t think the Monaco move for Mustafi is very likely, if it did go through I suspect we’ll stick with Luiz and hope that Holding (post injury) and Saliba (still an unknown quantity in the EPL for another season) come through. Upamecano apparently has a £92 million release clause this summer and a £74… Read more »
92m? No problem for The Arsenal!
I doesn’t claim anything at all. It just says it might happen. No sources, no actual movement; just summarising the speculation of a transfer. Not really read that site before, but after reading that, I will not visit it again. It’s even worse than “sky sports understands”…
Maybe you missed the:
“Reading from an albeit unreliable source…” part…
The point was IF we manage the impossible and trade Mustafi do we need another even with Luiz? And seeing what others thought on the concept…
If we do get a bid like that for Mustafi, I’ll happily drive him to the airport! I’m not getting into the car yet though.
The best you can say about Mustafi (and it’s incredible for a player that cost £35 million) is that he’s so poor that he won’t be missed. I’d make do with what we have – which will include Luiz if reports are accurate.
I think this is good it weakens a rival and strengthens us. But I still think in a long term we should be seriously looking to replace both Luiz and sokratis in a season or two as both are above 30yrs. I guess chambers and holding are the future but then we need 1 or 2 more of about that age as decent replacements. Mavropanos I’m not sure what to think of him as we haven’t seen enough of him since he’s joined the club. I’m really hoping medley can learn and pickup the tempo he’s ready physically but tactically… Read more »
If we can shift mustafi it is a huge boost- he’s just a mistake waiting to happen, cut losses and play nacho in central defence if need be. Luiz and Sok are the experience now and we need 2 from holding, mav, chambs, saliba to develop- with hector and tierney there are possibilities that a young back 4 could develop for a few years- remind me of George getting rough youngsters in and building a solid back line- take note bouldy!
A panic buy.
A temporary fix, surely? £8 million is at the top end for a 32 year old with no sell-on value of course, but it’s a lot cheaper than, say, Upamecano who apparently has a £92 million release clause. That said,I remember getting William Gallas from Chelsea – and that didn’t turn out well. We’ll see.
I’ll smack him if he sits in the centre circle and sobs.
He is better than what we have currently. But a bit underwhelmed considering he’s a replacement for Kos, as I think Kos is a better defender.
Some People cant ever be happy even if paid to be
It all feels so strange,
– signing a player from Chelsea (with their transfer ban as well),
– Luiz was the last name I would have guessed as the transfer target even yesterday, so the speed at which this is happening
– we actually addressing most of the areas of the squad in 1 transfer window when our budget was supposed to be very limited
– we have even moved on some player
– While some incoming have not been the fabled top top quality, in general our incomings have been very good
Overall a pretty good transfer window.
Pictured on the right? ?
I think every picture of Luiz in Arseblog has shown him with Guendouzi. It must be that facial recognition algorithm.
If Mustafi leaves for that fee Raul will have one felatio off me.
Umm… okay…?
I wonder how Chelsea have decided to let go of him. If I’m not wrong, with their transfer ban, the center backs they’d be left with are Zouma, Rudiger and Christensen. They have sold Cahill too.
Well he kinda did a Kozzer, went on strike…
Hopefully, he doesn’t stoop to the Jersey thing. Even though its the filthy blue lot from across the canal, some decorum would be appreciated in this day and age.
Azpilicueta is now playing as a CB
As well as Tomori.
Who cares about Chelski’s problems if it helps to solve ours even if it is only on a temporary basis for a season or two?
Yeah my thoughts exactly We sold them OG.. he won then the EL… we are also entitled to somehelp 4rm one of thier own players
Wow, like I said elsewhere. Decent shorter term option to get us through the next season and some rotation once Saliba comes in the year after as he [Saliba] and Holding begin to for the greatest Centre back duo in EPL history!
Welcome Luiz, just remember to play some defence from time to time too 😉
Definitely a better short term option than some of the stop gaps we’ve signed earlier. Like Silvestre ?
Yeah I saw someone saying this is like Silvestre and I was like, fuk dude…come on. Silvestre isn’t and never was in Luiz’ ball park in terms of class. I generally considered him shite at manure, and he was all types of shite for us. Luiz has skill, and is a really solid defender. Definitely prone to mental lapses, can get a little carried away with attacking, but with Sokratis and holding he might find ideal partners for his skills. And maybe we can curb him a little to stay in control (I can dream right ?)… All in all… Read more »
Think that was me.. Though my opinion has softened slightly on him- largely in part due to the fact that the fee has now come out and £8m for a player with two functioning legs is at this point a bargain- I still think he’s going to make more mistakes than many think. Seems to me as though we’re trying to move away from the 5 at the back we were semi-forced into playing last year with Kola so poor defensively and no decent rb options with Bellerin injured. People are forgetting how piss poor Luiz is in a back… Read more »
I’m not sure I’d call him “great” even in his prime. Always slow. Seemed a rotation option that played more than he should have due to Bans, injuries, and stuff. Manure were always trying to replace him. I’ll give you solid and maybe even “good” (at a stretch) in his prime. But he never really did it for me. Luiz has truly elite defensive attributes (size, speed, control, aerial, strong, good tackler…and still does), he just needs to keep his head level and play with the right style of defender. Again I’d take Luiz over Silvestre always.
Fair enough! I’d always prioritise solid over physical attributes- for every VVD there’s an Elaqium Mangala.. Either way, Luiz is certainly better than nothing. And my excitement for Tierney is such that I don’t really care either way. Buzzing for the season now- props to Raul et al.
I initially scoffed when this was first reported but have come round to the idea. We’re getting a proven PL CB who’s a damn site better than Mustafi. Most likely coming to try and find out Guendouzi’s hair care secrets…
Rocket sprocket
Hair is a person who’s going to help our our defense
Need to keep our expectations realistic… he might take so some time to gel
He is conditioned to the premier league. If you ever attempt to remove the curls from your hair, you may end up fro straighted
Cahill was on a free, personally would have rather saved the money and brought him in.
But this is Arsenal, so we had to spend 8m on a 32 year old who is prone to hilarious brain farts. Well, they were hilarious when they were in blue.
It also leaves a slight bad taste in my mouth that Luiz has ‘Done A Kos’ to force it through.
At least we know he can cut it in the prem
Let’s hope Luiz and Guendouzi don’t go for the same cross. It’ll take an age to untangle them.
Hairs hoping he doesn’t play like shampoo
Expected him to sign for Barnet.
Between him and Guendozi, we should be strong with fro ins…
Both are good on the ball and can do wonders curling a free kick.
Decent business for a cut price cb.
I’m also glad we got him on a perm
Great business given the circumstances. He’s the replacement for Koscielny and also allows for Saliba to bed in slowly next year. Tierney coming in means we have Monreal available at CB. That means we allow Holding to come back at his own pace. This defers playing Chambers, Mustafi or Mavropanos there barring exceptional circumstances. We are firmly in the top 4 race.
Seriously, 8M quid for Luiz in this market?! That is fuking grand larceny.
Seems to be a big drop on the over 30s even these days. Cheeky bid on kompany time lol
I wouldn’t say no to Vince for a year or two. He’s a beast.
Oh wait…he is boss of Anderlecht now…lol
Did you watch monreal play cb last couple of seasons? He’s ok for an emergency but not a regular rotational cb
Alaves is an OAP and has better pace than Lichensteiner. Age in Brasil is just a number lol
Luiz, Guendouzi, Elneny, Iwobi – we better get another hairdresser signed quickly to handle all that hair!
Elneny is no longer on that list. His cut his locs off weeks ago.
Big hair is all the rage. I believe this is a good bit of business. You would really miss dick and ivan doing deals.
“(pictured on the right)”
haha love it
I came straight to the comments sections after reading that. Haha
We all wanted a winger, a midfielder, a left back and a center back. The guy is a center back sooooo. Yeah, lets be very happy.
Honestly not bad
We still can go back for Upamecano or a new CB next summer. Especially if/when we finish Top 4
I.m good with this deal, he is a good player. Why Chelsea are prepared to sell to a direct rival is a mystery though
Same reason we sold Giroud to them whilst competing for the same spot.
Also, their new sporting director owes us.
We got Aubameyang from Dortmund by selling Giroud to Chelsea (who sold Batshuayi to Dortmund as Auba’s replacement). So, not the same reason, definitely. Chelsea are not getting another player out of this deal. €8m – fr an error prone, 32yr old defender, who likes attacking more than defending and doesnt want to play for them – is good money, i guess. Also, no other buyers for him till the last day except Arsenal. Chelsea also have upcoming talented youngsters in that position so the transfer ban also doesnt create much of a problem. Maybe, thats why they’re willing to… Read more »
I think it’s simply that he wanted to go and forced through a move.
Exactly the kind of player we needed. We certainly didn’t need yet another young defender who had to learn the league – we have so many of those we’re shedding them, plus Saliba incoming.
A two year contract for an experienced defender who has played in title-winning teams, at a price that works within the last millions left in our tight budget … perfect.
Rachel Yankey made good points on Sky about the fact that he does add some character to the team, and he’s also good on the ball, which favours our policy of playing out from the back.
He’s honestly way more an Arsenal-type defender than a Chelsea one. I wondered why they ever bought him, then bought him back. Agents probably.
Comes at a time when we’re trying to be less Arsenal in defense. But I dont mind, he makes up the numbers if nothing else. And I’d be surprised if he wasn’t able to add anything else.
Honestly I’m happy. I’m sure UpAndAdam has a higher ceiling, but I’m going to guess that 99% of those hyping him has never ever seen him play outside of youtube vids. We can come for him later, but right now a young CB from another league isn’t what we need. Our defence doesn’t just need quality, it seriously and badly needs leadership, the likes we haven’t really replaced since Per left. Using Per as an example, he wasn’t even a world class CB and very flawed, however his calmness, reading of the game but especially his leadership meant it was… Read more »
UpandAdam??
Simpsons reference, for those old enough to remember.
I kinda remember him marshalling Brazil to 7-1.
Long time listener, first time caller. That first line ??
This signing has been the one that has genuinely got me excited for the new season. Last season was difficult for all the wrong reasons, but this one is definitely going to be interesting.
This is going to be fun. Long live Sideshow Bob and son.
I still hope we will make a final serious bid on 1 of the 3 higher quality CB in addition to this 1. I dont even care who that much at this point although if pressed I’d take the Barcelona fella. Anybody with good positioning and a calm head will do.
I understand that, in the circumstances, Luiz is not a terrible piece of business to fill the hole left by Koscielny at the last minute. But given our obvious need to strengthen at centre back, if someone had told me at the beginning of the summer that, to fix that area, we’d offload Koscielny and replace him with David Luiz… well… I can’t say it would have struck me as a decent plan.
Welcome Luiz! Decent stop gap if you ask me. No nonsense type paired with Sokratis can hopefully be a good one this season. That way we can slowly ease Holding back into the starting lineup.
Let’s get ready for a wild season, folks!
He is a character and his big personality will fit in well with Arsenal. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m a supporter but Arsenal have a lot of big personalities. Especially compared to the miserable turds at Tottenham and Man City etc.
Certain people (yer da?) might scoff at this, but I think this is a big part of following a football team. I get some extra enjoyment and find it so much easier warming to the team when positive characters like Hector, Auba (and now probably Luiz) play for the club. Aside from his obvious technical genuus, it’s one of the things that made Santi one of my all time favourite Arsenal players
Genius* what better word to misspell…
OK now taxi for Mustafi and a surprise please. Pepe, Tierney, Luiz, Ceballoss, Martinelli and Shawcross in a heap not a bad window. In fairness on 40mil and you thought Jesus was good with 2 fishand 5 loaves. OK Josh I feel the Pointer Sisters coming on. I’m so..
Great transfert window i read. Yeah, Luiz, a 32 old defender (but experience, yes, i agree), Ceballos, a guy who we will train for £15M a year (same as Özil’s wages, but who cares…) so that he can play the Euro 2020 and be fit for Real next season, Tierney who is not able to walk yet, Pépé who defnitely is not worth the price (yet?), Martinelli, good young but we’ve got lots of great young. Fabulous transfert window…
Toys well and truly out of the pram there
I bet you’re a right laugh at dinner parties.
Dude… Just… shut the fuck up!
someone is on their period
66/1 for Arsenal to the league is a gift. We should be favourites. #EmeryOut
Basically, it’s cost £3m to replace Kos with Luiz, who is a year younger. Seems reasonable if you leave the emotive stuff aside.
And he is less injury-prone.
Koscielny wouldn’t have been able to play back-to-back games within the same week.
Luiz can.
When fit I might have preferred Koscielny, but realistically speaking this is probably a better option overall.
Nobody’s first choice, it’s fair to say. I mean, how could you have predicted this one? But a very experienced CB for £8m is a bit of a bargain. He’s mental, emotional, and a bit error prone. But that low fee has allowed us to go to the Bhoys and give a better bid for Tierney. How Arsenal have managed to sign so many players with such a low transfer budget is beyond me. Bloggs had some very interesting (and depressing) articles about how tight the purse strings were at the beginning of this summer. But somehow we’ve been able… Read more »
DL easily becomes our best cb. That’s a good thing for this coming season. Just worried about both our cb being 30 and above. He and sokratis should be solid enough pairing for at least one season. I guess it will depend now on the development of holding, chambers, mavrap for the season.
I forgot about mustafi. Which I don’t feel like he’s as bad but he is mistake prone in crucial moments that just kill it for him.
Needs must I guess.
I guess we now give him the No 10, the armband and hope he does not throw a tantrum at Birmingham.
This is the best transfer window for us in over a decade, fair play to Raul.
While I’m not 100% sold on Luiz yet (that may change if he boots Kane in the air), got to give props to Raul, Josh and the board. Identified needs, went and sorted them.
Free running, end product winger – check
Long term LB – check
Midfield replacement for Ramsey – check
CB cover – check
Long term youth projects in both defence and attack – check
Just need the offloads now.
Now for the important bit – how the team actually performs in the coming season. It could be a definite improvement on last season, as it looks on paper. It’s how it looks on the pitch that counts though so we’ll have to wait before getting too carried away.
No major sales so far, which is a big disappointment really.
So Luiz is top top quality?
He may not be, but he is an improvement on what we have (which is the criteria we set). Also, we clearly had at least one other target that we offered good money for, but refused to be priced out because quite frankly we would have needed to offer the sort of money that Juve paid to land de Ligt. I don’t get why that comment was needed but hey, you can’t please everyone I suppose
The thing is this is great as a replacement for Kos but we are still in need of a CB this year because we were not planning on Kos leaving.
If we don’t bring in another quality CB today we are not really any better than we were last year regarding our back four. And that was were we needed to strengthen the most.
A good option short term. Watched quite a few Chelsea games with my son (yeah I know, I failed in my football upbringing) and for the most part of the season he did very well. PSG, Brazil and Chelsea on his resume
i just think luiz is a bad option but still the best option we’ve got considering our problem at the bank… his lack of concentration is second to mustafi’s so i say he’s an upgrade to d backline that has lost its captain…
Strengthens us, weakens a rival, cheap, cool hair. What’s not to like?
Alright he’s a bit error prone but he’s good on the ball and takes a good free kick. I’m genuinely pretty cool with this.
Really strange how it’s ended up being a pretty decent summer. It was looking like all doom and gloom for a while there and I must admit to panicking and getting a bit depressed at one point.
Anyone else think the Chavs are gonna struggle this season, what with the embargo and all?
One of the best transfer windows in the past 15 years. Kudos to AFC.
Coco for Crusty… https://media1.tenor.com/images/f8e26fc02736f4e43c20ea38712fbeca/tenor.gif?itemid=9151910
A “panic buy” in that we’re panicking as we’re short at CB?
Or that he sends teammates panicking with his lapses in concentration?
Or that he makes fans panic?
All the above?
:¬)
Actually… I think later in the season we may see him more in midfield.
He has similar lapses in concentration to Xhaka, but he is more defensively minded and might shore up midfield a bit, resulting in less panic at the back.
Just weird that Chelsea are willing to sell him to us.
Even if he doesn’t/ didn’t get on with Lampard he could go to any number of clubs.
Why do us a favour?
Let’s hope it’s not a repeat of the William Gallas transfer. He was excellent at Chelsea but when he joined as makeweight in the Cole transfer he was – overall – a big disappointment, particularly towards the end of his time with us.
Best window in ages in any case considering we are playing EL
Upamecano & Rice in next year & Mikhi, Musti, Özil out (if Ceballos is made permanent) andwe are challengers again with an very good average squad too in order to improve as well!
Am i missing something here? We all lambast Mustafi for having repeated brain farts, I really don’t think Luiz is much better in that regard? Germany Brazil anyone?
I’m not surprised Mustafi isn’t attracting interest, we’ve made him look more terrible than he is in public that no fanbase of another team wants him which is obviously to our own disadvantage. I believe we’ve had worse defenders than Mustafi and as long as he wears The Arsenal badge, I think he deserves our support. Damaging his confidence even further isn’t good for anyone. And this is not to say I don’t want him sold but as long as he’s still here, He’s one of our own.
Can’t agree – Mustafi is terrible (and as a season ticket holder, I’ve seen almost all his games at The Emirates). Who has made him look so terrible other than him? Don’t you think that other clubs see what we see when he plays?
We have had (marginally) worse defenders. Gus Caesar springs to mind as one, but good old Gus didn’t cost £35 million and a fortune in wages – one of the reasons, apart from his performances, that we can’t sell Mustafi.
Arsenal deserves better than Mustafi – let’s hope we get it soon!
I think David Luiz will be good and let us give Musti more season he might improve
Well, Mustafi was only signed in 2016 so he hasn’t had that long to “improve” has he? Now if he’d been with us for years, that would be different. But, hang on …
Not the greatest purchase we’ve ever made, but we needed a capable and experienced central defender (esp if we are able to sell Mustafi which I pray we are). We at least have numbers with Sokratis, Chambers, Luis, Holding, Monreal (since we have Tierney and Kolasinac on the left) and even Mavropanos when healthy that can play centrally so hopefully this means Mustafi is on his way out. I doubt we’ll bring anyone else in at this point. Luckily Luiz is on a two year contract and can be a bridge for a year or two until Saliba is ready… Read more »
I detest David Luiz and can’t believe we signed the cheating diver.
I can’t believe we’re selling a young Nigerian International to Everton, because we cannot give yes give any of the dross away. We all know their names.
Im ready to see how we’re gonna perform this season….we ready to take on the top teams an get bak that old arsenal
Would love him to shave his head tonight, wear a beanie all weekend, then walk out in the game at Newcastle to shock the footballing world. Turn from the comical character he is into a sort of hard bastard Keown. Never smile for 2 years. Just scare the living creeps out of opposing strikers with a permanent scowl.
1 hour to go… tick tock..
It doesn’t look likely that there will be any major sales in this window which will be disappointing if true. I think there was a chance of selling Iwobi to Everton but it seems we’ve misjudged what Everton are prepared to pay (£38 million was what we demanded, according to latest press reports, which really does look too high). Anyway, you never know, a last minute deal and all that. Nothing on the Mustafi front which comes as no great surprise really. Did Monaco look at the match videos again? We must collect them up and destroy them before the… Read more »
It doesn’t look likely that there will be any major sales in this window which will be disappointing if true. I think there was a chance of selling Iwobi to Everton but it seems we’ve misjudged what Everton are prepared to pay (£38 million was what we demanded, according to latest press reports, which really does look too high). Anyway, you never know, a last minute deal and all that. Nothing on the Mustafi front which comes as no great surprise really. Did Monaco look at the match videos again? We must collect them all up before the next window… Read more »
He brings a lot of hair…..what a great line!
Now we just need Fellaini to grow his hair out and sign for us.
Pictured on the right.
Yep, clarity was indeed needed on that one.