David Luiz cost up to £24m for one season. Should Arsenal add another year?
Amy Lawrence
The decision to either renegotiate or back away from a contract extension for David Luiz needs putting in the remarkable context of the finance Arsenal required to bring him in last summer.
It cost up to £24 million to sign him for one season. This breaks down as an £8 million transfer fee to Chelsea, as much as £6 million to intermediaries to fix everything up, and the rest on the Brazilian defender’s £10 million a year salary.
The ratio between the transfer fee and agent costs is eye-opening. The justification behind the unusually high percentage payments to the fixers — not all of which would have been paid up front — was to get Arsenal a player of Luiz’s calibre and experience for a relatively cheap fee. Signing a player from a London rival for £8 million was presented internally as a success and the total outlay was considered to be worth it — although it does beg the question as to why the deal was only made for a year, with only an option of an extra season, if it was such a bargain.
This trade was being weighed up while Arsenal found themselves in a desperate situation. They did not anticipate Laurent Koscielny suddenly taking himself out of the equation in pre-season. When the Frenchman insisted on leaving with the 2019-20 season around the corner, they were in need of a Premier League-ready centre-half who could slot in immediately. Luiz ticked a lot of boxes.
What’s more, negotiations could be overseen by men with a good relationship. Luiz’s advisor, Kia Joorabchian, was well known to their deal cracker Raul Sanllehi, close to technical director Edu and an Arsenal supporter who has has been a guest in their directors’ box. Joorabchian also took a lot of credit for helping to smooth over Luiz’s move from Chelsea.
In the current climate, any extension of the defender’s contract — with a similar salary and another chunk for agents’ fees — adds to the financial pressure of which the club are acutely aware. From February 1 2018 to January 31 2019, Arsenal spent £11,181,730 on intermediaries’ fees, according to the last FA figures, although this was only the eighth highest in the Premier League. The pay cut taken by Arsenal’s players during the COVID-19 crisis, however, demonstrates the predicament they are in with their wage bill.
Luiz is now 33. He has been a very popular and influential member of the group since crossing London to the Emirates. Despite some high-profile errors, particularly early on under Unai Emery, he became one of Arsenal’s more reliable defenders since Mikel Arteta took over as head coach.
Arteta should be the man making the football decisions so the question of whether or not to trigger an extended deal for Luiz ideally rests with him. Arsenal have a glut of centre-halves in their stable so some will have to go. Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos have a year left on their contracts. Pablo Mari is expected to make his loan permanent. The prized teenager William Saliba is coming soon from St Etienne. Rob Holding and Calum Chambers have been working their way back from serious injury. It does not make sporting or business sense to retain so many.
Negotiations on any deals are being handled by Sanllehi, whose power in calling the shots has been emphasised by the decision of Sir Chips Keswick to step down as chairman. Sir Chips made it clear that one of his reasons was the way the board was bypassed when it came to decision making. Things have moved so far away from the traditional style of running the club, with regular board meetings attended by the football manager and directors having the responsibility to both support and watch over different departments. Sir Chips, it is understood, was uncomfortable with the idea of having accountability for decisions without any responsibility for helping to make them.
Luiz, though, is very much part of Arsenal’s plans for the restart of football on June 17, while his future at the club needs to be settled by June 23 at the latest. For how much longer he stays after that, and at what cost, remains to be seen.
