MY RISK PAID OFF says DAVID LUIZ
DAVID LUIZ could easily have stayed at Paris St-Germain last summer.
He was well liked, had won two league titles and several cups, and had three years left on his £130,000-aweek contract.
Instead, the Brazilian took a pay cut and returned to the country where he was once branded a player who looked like “he was controlled by a 10-year-old on Play Station”.
That jibe came from Sky pundit Gary Neville in November 2011 when, during his first spell at Chelsea, Luiz’s side lost to Liverpool.
Today, with a Premier League winners’ medal in his pocket and an FA Cup Final looming, the 30-yearold insists he did not return to prove anyone wrong. He came back because he likes taking risks.
Luiz was believed not to be part of new PSG coach Unai Emery’s plans for this season when Chelsea came calling, so a £32m move was quickly finalised on deadline day.
He then proceeded to produce displays that have marked him down as one of the most gifted central defenders in the world.
He’s still a joker, though. Asked how he had helped Antonio Conte to transform Chelsea from 10th in the table last year to potential Double winners this term, he said: “I am the magic, no?”
But the Brazilian soon got serious, adding: “Two years ago Chelsea won the title. Last season was not a good one but this season we did great, not just because of me, but because of everybody.
“It was because of the commitment, the desire, the mentality we put on the pitch every day.
“Every day we are working hard and that’s why we deserve this.
Happy
“I was winning in Paris. I went to Paris for two years and won all the titles in France. I had a great life, I had great credibility there.
“I had everything in Paris and took a risk to come back to one country that was not that happy with me.
“They always criticised me here – even with me winning the Champions League, Europa League, playing all the games.
“That’s why it was a risk and I love the risk. If you don’t take risks, you never feel something new, so I taste something new and I like that.
“I don’t like to stay with the easy life always. That’s why I took the risk and today I am happy.
“If you don’t learn everybody will pass you by, so I try to improve.”
But the man who cost PSG a world record fee for a defender of £50m insisted he has not come back to prove Neville wrong, saying: “I had to take a risk to feel something good for me, not for others.
“I cut my salary to come back here but it’s OK. God has given me a lot, so I’m happy with this.”