‘I don’t think we’ll see him in the Premier League again’: Jamie Carragher hits out at ‘not good enough’ David Luiz
Arsenal defender was at fault for two City goals and got himself sent off 25 minutes after coming on, and with his contract set to expire at the end of the month Carragher believes the club must ‘move on’
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Your support makes all the difference.Jamie Carragher believes the 25-minute horror show against Manchester City will be the last we see of David Luiz in the Premier League as “there’s no way he is getting a contract” to stay at Arsenal beyond the end of the month.
Luiz is out of contract in two weeks’ time, and despite expressing his desire to stay at the Emirates Stadium, he looks set to leave the club unless an extension is triggered in the coming days.
The Premier League’s resumption proved a disaster for the Brazilian, with the defender at fault for two of City’s three goals and earning himself a red card in the process of conceding a second-half penalty just 25 minutes after coming on as a substitute.
The 33-year-old will now miss Arsenal’s next Premier League encounter against Brighton on Saturday afternoon through suspension, leaving just two games before his contract expires on 30 June in the trips to Southampton and Sheffield United.
However, Carragher believes Arteta will prefer to play other options in those games to end Luiz’s short-lived Arsenal career, and the former Liverpool defender has encouraged the struggling north London club to “move on” from him because he is “not good enough for Arsenal”.
"I don't think we'll ever see him in the Premier League ever again - and he does provide us with entertainment whatever you think," Carragher said on Sky Sports.
"He's going to be banned now and I don't see how Mikel Arteta, after a performance like that, can put him back in, in any circumstance - certainly not if they're going for the Champions League.
"The mistakes he's made tonight - put a kid in. I know they've got injury problems there... but I think that's the last we'll see of him.
"There is an option for Arsenal to give him a contract, but there's no way David Luiz is getting a contract. I said that before the game."
The defeat was Arsenal’s first in 2020, halting Arteta’s mini-revival of the club since replacing Unai Emery last December, which prompted Sky presenter David Jones to ask whether the experience that Luiz has could yet help the club across the remainder of the season - a question that was met with short shrift from Carragher.
“People keep talking about experience, sometimes it’s one of the most overrated qualities,” Carragher snapped back.
“It doesn’t matter how old you are. David Luiz is not good enough for Arsenal. They’ve got a young French lad coming in next season (William Saliba), they’ve bought (Pablo) Mari, they need another one because they’ve still got Sokratis. Mustafi played tonight. These are not good enough.
“The problem with someone like a David Luiz, you think you’ll do this and do that and get the best out of him. You won’t.”
The defeat leaves Arsenal eight points behind fourth-placed Chelsea in the hunt for Champions League football, which is drifting ever-further away with the club down in ninth position in the Premier League table. Arteta’s side could still sneak into the Champions League if they finish fifth and Manchester City’s European ban is upheld, with Manchester United only five points ahead of the Gunners.
But Wednesday night’s 3-0 defeat only solidified Carragher’s belief that the club remains trapped in a decline that is seeing them fall further away from their main rivals.
“I didn't expect anything different to what I saw to be honest,” he added. “I know there was no crowd in here, but I didn't think it was too different because I have seen Arsenal do that for the last 10 years!'
“Arsenal are not good enough and there is a huge job for Mikel Arteta to do. He just has to get through these nine games, obviously there was hope of these nine games before today that they could make some sort of challenge for the Champions League.
“But they are not good enough to make the top four so forget where they are in the league and how many points difference there is to Chelsea or Manchester United. They are not good enough and that was evident.
“I didn't have any faith in Arsenal coming here and doing anything here, it is not just about Arsenal, Manchester City are a great team, they are not at their best obviously but no one is coming straight back in, but I never had any doubt about Man City.”
He added: “They have problems at centre back but again that was there before Mikel Arteta came in.
“It might be difficult for them in the summer now with the financial implications, no Champions League.
“I think we are all impressed with how Mikel Arteta has gone about it in some ways since he has come into the job but he has got a huge job.”
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