David Luiz has revealed that he left Chelsea in the summer window due to having a different football philosophy to incoming head coach Frank Lampard.
The Brazilian made surprise £7million deadline-day move to Arsenal in August, while Lampard has allowed Chelsea’s young players to flourish in a very promising start at Stamford Bridge.
The transfer came as a shock to many after signing a two-year contract extension with Chelsea just three months before.
The defender spent six years during two spells at the club, the first of which as a team-mate of Lampard’s, but decided to end his time at Chelsea after a conversation with the now-manager.
‘Me and Lampard, we had honest conversations. Man to man, me and him,’ the 32-year-old told The Telegraph. ‘His ideas of football were different to mine. We just agreed: “OK, we move on”. In an honest way, in a mature way.
‘We played together, we won together. We won the Champions League, the Europa League, everything together. It was done in a mature way.’
The flamboyant defender also revealed that he bought into Unai Emery’s vision at the Emirates which persuaded him to join the London club.
He added: ‘I came here because I see they have the potential to do that, to fight for that. This is my mentality, this is my ambition, this is what I want in this club.’
Luiz has made eight appearances for Arsenal, who face Sheffield United in the Premier League on Monday, this campaign.
