The Blues may have sold center-back David Luiz to local London rivals Arsenal in the summer transfer window just ahead of the start of the season, but Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has admitted that he will always respect the Brazilian defender from his time at Stamford Bridge.
David Luiz could come up against his former club Chelsea for the first time since he left West London this Sunday when Lampard’s men visit the Emirates Stadium for Mikel Arteta’s first home game in charge of the Arsenal.
Arteta’s predecessor Unai Emery brought David Luiz to North London back in August, as the 32-year-old center back was sold just a month after Lampard took over the reins at Chelsea.
The emergence of youth players in the form of Fikayo Tomori and Kurt Zouma’s form has meant that Chelsea is not appearing to have been missing the services of David Luiz, though his ex-team-mate Lampard, was unwilling to make such declarations ahead of the latest London derby.
The 41-year-old Englishman was asked by reporters as to why he sold Luiz in the summer and he responded by explaining that he will always respect Luiz but there were other players that were better suited for his style of play, “What I don’t want to do is look like it’s a personal question going into a game against a player I respect and played with, If you look at our defenders and the emergence of Tomori, that’s obviously been a big plus for us, but it was just a decision that was made and while I’m here I’ll be making countless more of those in different ways. I certainly wish David well when he leaves this club. He was part of a Champions League-winning team, played with half a hamstring in the final, I know that. [He] got himself fit when he was under pressure with the injury and I will always respect that, and he moves on.”
