LUIZ’S NEW DEAL
Arsenal to extend Brazilian’s contract
DAVID LUIZ has agreed a shock new contract to remain at arsenal for another year.
The oft- criticised defender’s deal, worth around £120,000 a week, was due to expire on June 30 and clubs had until last night to finalise short-term extensions to run to the end of this season. However, arsenal were last night on the verge of finalising a longer deal for Luiz to keep him until 2021.
Luiz joined arsenal in a surprise £8million move from Chelsea last summer on a one-year deal with the option of a further 12 months.
Luiz, 33, was sent off against manchester City last week after a disastrous 25-minute cameo to earn a two-game ban. and boss mikel arteta admitted last Friday he was unsure whether Luiz had played his last game. The Brazilian accepted the blame for the loss against City, confirmed he wanted to stay and that arteta wanted to keep him, but admitted the uncertainty around his future affected his performance.
arteta also confirmed yesterday that fellow defender Pablo mari’s loan move from Flamengo was close to being made a permanent one. He joined in January with arsenal having an option to sign him for around £10m. Short-term deals for Dani Ceballos and Cedric Soares were also being finalised to run until the end of the current campaign.
meanwhile, arteta is open to offloading matteo guendouzi as his frustration mounts over the midfielder’s antics. The manager caught his French midfielder on camera acting up during training.
guendouzi clashed with Neal maupay after arsenal’s defeat at Brighton on Saturday when the albion striker accused his countryman of lacking humility for things he said during the game.
Sportsmail revealed that guendouzi taunted maupay about how much he and arsenal’s players earned compared to Brighton’s.
The incident is the latest that has led to questions about guendouzi’s attitude, a situation that arteta, who is trying to change the culture at arsenal, has been left unimpressed by.
Sportsmail understands arteta had the Frenchman’s card marked from early in his reign when he saw guendouzi acting up while re-watching training footage. While arteta’s back was turned, a distracted guendouzi could be seen messing about, sometimes doing ‘silly dances’ at a time when the manager wanted full focus from his players.
guendouzi started just two of arteta’s first 10 league games.
Some team-mates have also taken a dim view of some of his antics.
meanwhile, striker gabriel martinelli is facing ‘months’ out after suffering a knee cartilage injury in training on Sunday.
in a more positive injury update, goalkeeper Bernd Leno escaped serious cruciate ligament damage when he clashed with maupay, suffering a sprain in his right knee which will keep him out for four to six weeks.