Arsenal have confirmed that David Luiz has had a small procedure on his right knee and will be sidelined for the upcoming weeks.
The Gunners first reported the issue on Friday after the player felt discomfort in training and Mikel Arteta hinted after last night’s 3-0 defeat to Liverpool that the player had a couple of treatment options.
Asked how long the centre-back might be out for, he said: “I don’t know. It will depend what the decision we take is. If it’s more conservative, it will be short-term. If it’s a bit more radical with what he needs, it will take longer.”
Given the club think he could be back sooner rather than later, it suggests we’ve gone for the former option.
“David Luiz underwent a small procedure on his right knee on Sunday morning,” reads a statement from the club.
“The procedure has been a success and David is now back at home rehabilitating. He will be able to return to daily support and recovery with our medical team at the training centre in the coming days. David is expected to be back to full fitness and available for selection in the upcoming weeks.”
In the absence of the 33-year-old, the Gunners will need to find defensive solidity utilising our other four options; Rob Holding, Pablo Mari, Calum Chambers and Gabriel.
Luiz’s contract is up in the summer and the club have been weighing up whether to offer him an extension. If this procedure is a temporary measure and he requires more extensive surgery when the season ends, we’re going to have to assess whether that’s sensible.
In the meantime, we wish David all the best with his recovery.
Wishing him all the best in his recovery. It would be nice to see him recover before the end of the season, especially given that it might be best to pay ways after the current contract is over.
Agreed, we need him this season.
Hard not to think this injury was (in)directly due to him playing 9 games in a row beforehand. 3 games in a week at the age of 34 is just stupid.
If Arteta wants him for the final stages this season, and i can see why due to that pairing last night, then he has got to manage his minutes better. He’s running his players into the ground. The less said about Tierney the better.
If we extend Luiz and loan out Saliba then I’m officially #ArsenalOut.
At this point, I think I would like to see Gabriel-Mari partnered in defense. I know they are both left footed, but it still seems like putting Mari in there would be an improvement on Holding in his recent form. Mari tends to bring a sense of calm and composure to our defense, and not get beaten to headers by smaller players.
yes, i think they are our two best centre backs (including luiz). it’s nice for developing play to have a left footer and a right footer but not essential and i agree mari brings a sense of calm authority whenever he plays. holding seems to have completely lost his confidence since arteta inexplicably dropped him when he had been doing well. i have liked arteta to date but i am now worried that he seems to be falling out with or hurting the confidence of a lot of the players. maybe he needs to be a bit more pragmatic and… Read more »
These days it seems like people are more concerned about centre backs being able to play out from the back, over their ability to defend
Time to offer him a new contract then. By the way, I left it up to your interpretation as to whether I’m serious or not. That’s the kind of state our club is in these days.
My opinion changes all the time on whether we should give him another year. I guess a lot depends on the Saliba situation which has been such a shitshow.
Arteta has an ego. He only wants people he can control around the club. Someone with am autocratic management type like that will never allow the Salibas, the Martinellis and the Guendouzis of this world to play under him. Because they are too much of a threat. They are wildcards and that’s what terrifies him. He is a control freak. You can see this by the way he tries to micro manage the players on the touchline rather than the Wenger approach of just letting them play ball. So buckle up now and get comfortable seeing Willian and Luiz for… Read more »
I totally agree with your assessment of Arteta except not sitting down like Wenger.
I don’t know if a true control freak would have kept Luiz around, given his reputation for getting rid of managers he’s not fond of. I wonder if Arteta felt he had to establish himself as a disciplinarian to compensate for his relative youth and lack of experience, and for the sake of consistency he just has to keep doing it. Like, day one of prison you’re meant to go up to the biggest guy in there and smash him in the mouth, but Arteta’s nearly 18 months in and keeps finding new people to hit. Dropping Auba AND publicly… Read more »
I hope you are wrong, but the same thought has crossed my mind, about micro ma at and sidelining Saliba, Martinelli, Guendouzi, AMN, Willock, Nelson.
And insisting on Willian & Ceballos
To be fair, one of Wenger’s problems was that he just sat there complaining to Pat Rice and didn’t seem to do enough managing on the touchline
I’m wondering if Chambers on the right side, with Bellerin at fullback, isn’t our best option now. (Gabriel clearly our best centre half now, despite the final half-hour last night). I love Rob Holding’s attitude and spirit, but he is not good enough to start. I loved Jenkinson too.
Looking at the best way to shuffle around bad players is not going to change anything.
Replacing them with decent players might.
Just a shame Arsenal are broke…
Holding is a decent PL centerback, won us a couple FA Cups too with some solid displays. But as a starter CB for a top 4 club he has some ways to go, and at 25 he needs to quickly prove he is at this level. Otherwise he can still be a handy 3rd or 4th choice CB.
Luiz is just a small part of the massive problem at Arsenal.
He is not good enough as is Arteta and about 95% of the rest of this squad of players.
Obviously I wish him well but its a benefit that he is injured. I am far far more concerned about Tierney – one of only three positive things you can say about this season under Arteta..
How much did we miss him last night,
probably in the minority here, but here’s to hoping luiz has some setbacks on his recovery- i don’t want to see him in the shirt again and want the decision on any extension made for us by his fitness (or lack thereof) before the club can offer him some stupid extension. its time to cut him loose.
He’s been our best centre back recently. We need him if we make it to the semi final and final of the Europa League.
Irrespective of whether he’s been good or bad how tf can you possibly find yourself hoping that someone would have a setback in their recovery???
Give your head a wobble son.
I’d like to see Chambers playing in Defensive Midfield, partnering with Partey. Put Bellerin back in at right CB, with Mari and Gabriel in the middle. Either Tierney or Cedric on the left.
I wish him good luck an full recovery – I hope it takes him until the end of the season at which point he can go somewhere else.
If we give him another contract, Artery and Edu haven’t learned anything.