David Luiz’s future will be resolved this week with all parties working towards extending his stay at Arsenal, according to the player’s agent Kia Joorabchian.
The 33-year-old’s existing agreement expires on June 30 having only signed a one-year contract when joining the club from Chelsea in an £8 million deal last summer. The Gunners have an option to sign him for another year but a decision has not yet been taken and Luiz’s case was not helped by a calamitous performance in Wednesday’s 3-0 loss to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
After being dropped from the starting lineup, Luiz came on as a first-half substitute for an injured Pablo Mari, made a mistake for the opening goal and was then sent off for conceding a penalty which Kevin De Bruyne converted.
His appearance lasted 25 minutes. Afterwards, Luiz decided to conduct a live television interview in which he expressed his regret that his contract situation has not been decided before now.
For players whose contracts expire this summer, the deadline to extend for the end of the 2019-20 season is June 23.
And Joorabchian hinted in an interview with talkSPORT on Thursday morning that the delay is linked to ongoing contractual negotiations with some other players including Mari, Cedric Soares, Bukayo Saka and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who are about to enter the final year of their deals.
“The situation from Arsenal’s point of view will be resolved this week,” he said. “I think it’s just not Luiz’s situation. There are numerous issues within the whole structure that will get resolved. June 23 is the deadline for most of the clubs to renew their contracts so that they can end the season off and beyond.
So irrespective of any situation, by June 23 everyone’s situation should be resolved.
