Luiz insists the decision to leave Chelsea was made before Arsenal declared their interest in him.
David Luiz
David Luiz has opened up on the “honest” talks with Frank Lampard, before leaving Chelsea for Arsenal.
The Brazilian swapped Stamford Bridge for the Emirates in the summer, following the appointment of his ex-Blues teammate, Lampard.
Luiz insists the decision to leave Chelsea was made before Arsenal declared their interest in him, despite only penning fresh terms in west London in May.
“I decided to leave Chelsea before there was contact with Arsenal,” he told The Telegraph.
“People do not know that but I decided early to leave Chelsea. After that I had contact with Arsenal and I took a decision which everybody knows was not easy.
“Me and Lampard, we had honest conversations. Man to man, me and him. 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.”