Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta handed a new one-year deal to defender David Luiz last week and this decision has perplexed a lot of fans as well as experts.
After his howler vs Manchester City in the Premier League, everyone was certain that the Brazilian will be shown the door at the end of the season but surprisingly that has not been the case.
And according to Martin Keown, Mikel Arteta might have but his own job in danger by holding onto the central defender for one more season.
“What I’m concerned about now is the stock of the manager,” the Gunners legend told talkSPORT host Jim White. “I think there’s enough favour there for Arteta as a young manager to maybe get away with this one.
“Nonetheless, I think he should be making the right decisions for the football club and I don’t believe David Luiz is the right man to be in that dressing room. Now, I think David Luiz is very lucky to be there back at Arsenal for another year.
“But then I worry about the manager, because you only get so long in this job and you’ve got to make the right decisions, and the early decisions have to be right.
“That is a huge problem, that position; David Luiz has given the most penalties away this season, four, he’s not mobile enough, he goes to ground too early…
“As former players, we don’t enjoy ridiculing and hammering players, and he’s had a fine career, but he’s only ever done it in a back-three. So unless it is that Arteta is going to change to a back-three and he’s going to play in the middle, as he did at Chelsea when he won the Premier League, Arsenal are in real trouble.
“Because he’s going to be exposed, he’s going to make rash challenges, and actually in possession, he’s been really disappointing. He’s often going back to the goalkeeper and inviting pressure from the opposition.
“So this is massive for Arteta now. He’s got to go looking for central defenders, there’s injuries in that position, David Luiz isn’t the answer and he’s getting another year’s contract!”
With players like Pablo Mari, Cedric Soares and Rob Holding at his disposal, everyone is bewildered why Mikel Arteta took such a call.
And as far as we think, the Gunners boss has no intentions of using the defender extensively next season. Instead, Arteta wants to hold onto Luiz so that he can have an experienced player inside the dressing room as he looks to rebuild his squad.
But all said and done, not many people are happy about David Luiz getting the new deal and this is easily the first big blunder that the Arsenal boss has made since his appointment back in December of last year.
