Arsenal saw a €20m (£17.5m) bid for David Luiz rejected in recent weeks, but are considering making another, according to reports in France.
French outlet Le10Sport write that Arsenal recently made a first formal offer for the defender, but Chelsea knocked it back. The club reportedly “have not yet decided (whether) to return to the deal with a superior offer, but they’re not ruling it out”.
As for David Luiz himself, the report claims he’s unlikely to stay with Chelsea either way. He doesn’t get along well with manager Antonio Conte, and the way the issue of Conte’s future is dragging on is making him even more keen to move on.
The defender only has a contract for one more year anyway, with his current deal expiring in 2019. At 31 years old, though, he won’t want to waste time running it down. The Brazilian only made 17 appearances in 2017/18, in a campaign disrupted by injuries.
As for Arsenal, you would’ve thought that the imminent purchase of Sokratis Papastathopoulos and the presence of Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal and Stephan Lichtsteiner in the squad would’ve filled the club’s quota for defenders in their thirties.
The money would surely be better spent on an up and coming defender like Caglar Soyuncu. Perhaps the board are looking for a centre-back with a bit more Premier League experience. We’ll have to wait and see.