David Luiz says he’s enjoying his role as senior statesman at Arsenal and wants to help the club’s young players develop this season as they challenge for a place in the top four.
At 32, the Brazil international is the oldest member of Unai Emery’s squad and with over 600 games under his belt and titles won in three countries also its most experienced.
While Luiz’s form has been a mixed bag since he moved from Chelsea for £8 million, his influence in the dressing room has been apparent from the off with a number of his new teammates praising his warmth and willingness to share advice.
“I think we’ve started really well and we just lost one game in the Premier League,” he told NBC Sports.
“I think the team is improving and now we are in third in the table but we want to finish this season fighting for the title.
“This is our goal. I’m trying to my best for the team and for every single player and I’m so happy to be here with all of the talent we have in the club.
He added: “Myself, as a senior play, I have over 600 games in my career, so I’m going to help the young players develop a lot and help the team…I think I’m continuing that role.
“I’ve been doing that the last few years already and to have the pleasure to do that. I’ve been doing that because it’s a pleasure and I like to see them enjoy improving and finding out the importance of how to play the game.
“I’ve played a lot of games in my career, and the only game I haven’t played in is the World Cup final, so I want to enjoy this as much as I can.”
Having missed out on the Champions League two years running, it’s no secret that Arsenal’s primary aim is to get back to Europe’s top table either by finishing in the Premier League’s top four or by winning the Europa League. Luiz believes that the Gunners should dream bigger and shouldn’t rule themselves out of a title push just yet.
“For me, if you start something, and we’ve just started the Premier League and all of the competitions, if you don’t think you can win the competition then you won’t start anything in your life,” he said.
“The ambition has to be there, the dream has to be there. Also, you have to be humble and have the humility to understand how you can achieve this kind of thing.
“This is what you have to do every single day. To understand the plan, to work hard and understand that if you have the opportunity you have to give your best.
“After that, if you don’t achieve you have to understand why you didn’t achieve these kind of goals. But my vision, my ambition and my will is always to fight for the title. And between the club, the players and the coach, we have the possibility to fight for the title.”
From winning – to challenging – to top four – to challenging for top four.. Our status and narrative has changed so much..
Luiz wants to fight for the title, that’s apparent in what he’s just said. I believe there are possibly, a number of other players in the squad who want to challenge for the title too. I believe that’s the right mentality. If Leicester hadn’t challenged for the title in ’15 we’d probably have been champions or some other team. We have to reach for it. It is ambitious but you shouldn’t be in sports if you aren’t ambitious.
Being in the Europa League is a blessing in disguise in my opinion. It has given us a chance to reinvigorate our youth policy and build a team for the future. We’ve lost countless talents because of game time.
For us, the future is like the horizon, when we get closer, it recedes.
The sooner get rid of ozil is the sooner we can improve as a team. Saka and Willock must be depressed thinking how they earn much less than that washed up lazy fortnite princess despite being 10x better football players. Literally the most overrated and most mentally weak player I have ever seen in my life. Shies away from any form of physical contact like a 5 year old girl. Pretends to press and chase the ball without tackling ever like some scaredy cat. He would never see the bench let alone the pitch under pep or klopp, there’s no… Read more »
Coherent username
Say whatever you want to about this guy but I’d always pick this guy in my starting XI
Was out best defender at OT
And our worst in how many games…?
Sadly, we’ve missed out on the Champions League three years running, not two.
Guess who started in our team since then
600 games? that’s impressive. i hated luiz at chelsea. mostly because he was at chelsea, but i have to say he really is a good guy. every interview i like him a bit more. reaching out to rob holding when he was injured and offering support was a classy gesture. our young defenders can learn a lot from him.
When was the last time we had any player talking up a title bid?
We’re currently light years away from City+Liverpool, but hearing about the ambition to compete is refreshing.