David Luiz has cost Arsenal £24MILLION in one season since his transfer from Chelsea – including £6m in agent fees
David Luiz has cost Arsenal up to £24million for just one season, according to reports.
The Brazil international left Chelsea for the second time in the summer of 2019 to complete a move across London which seemed mutually beneficial.
However, the 33-year-old has failed to provide the necessary maturity befitting a veteran defender such as himself at the heart of the notoriously leaky Gunners’ defence.
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Although the £8m signing of an experienced player from their London rivals seemed like great business at the time, it seems as though Arsenal have shelled out far more than they could have possibly imagined.
According to The Athletic, the club paid out as much as £8m to intermediaries to ensure the deal went through smoothly and have now paid all of his £10m-a-year salary.
Luiz is advised by Kia Joorabchian, who is credited for helping the last-minute deal get through so quickly.
The lifelong Arsenal fan was called into action when Laurent Koscielny announced his intentions to leave the Emirates during pre-season, meaning Unai Emery needed a grizzled veteran with Premier League experience in his defence.
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Although Mikel Arteta used the former PSG defender regularly before the outbreak of COVID-19, time is running out on Luiz’s career already given he will be out of contract on June 30th.
Prodigal talent William Saliba will finally make his debut next season once his loan move from St-Etienne comes to a close and Pablo Mari is also expected to make his loan move permanent.
Calum Chambers and Rob Holding are recovering from their own respective injuries, while Shokdran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos are both entering the last year on their deals.
As for Luiz, a return to Benfica has been mooted, although The Mirror claim the Brazilian will have to take a huge cut on his £120,000-a-week wages to return to Portugal.
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