Arsenal: The great David Luiz influence off the pitch

Arsenal signed David Luiz to fill an experienced void at centre-half. But his greatest impact has not come on the pitch; it has come through his leadership and character off it.

When Laurent Koscielny kicked his toys out of the pram and forced his way out of the club, Arsenal had a problem: they were already weak at centre-back, were now losing their most experienced and high-performing central defender, and had invested £27 million in a new centre-back who was not going to arrive at the club for another year.

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After spending the majority of their summer budget already, primarily on Nicolas Pepe and Kieran Tierney, they now had an even greater centre-back problem with little resource to solve it. They needed an inventive solution.

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Enter David Luiz. An experienced, winning defender who was no longer wanted at Chelsea and could be available on the cheap. It made perfect sense. And so, shortly after Koscielny departed, returning to France in a hissy-fit, Arsenal made their move, acquiring Luiz in an £8 million move.

Luiz’s performance on the pitch have been inconsistent. He has proven his quality, undoubtedly, but there have several high-profile errors, which is what he was known for at Chelsea. Nevertheless, despite these inconsistencies, Luiz has added another much-needed body to the centre-back group for cheap. From that sense, he has solved the problem.

But where Luiz’s true value lies is off the pitch, on the training ground, in the dressing room. He may be a little turbulent on the pitch, but in the corridors of London Colney, he is a true and terrific leader, which is precisely what this lacklustre squad requires.

This week, Luiz produced an ‘In my own words’ piece for the club website. Just read the following paragraph from that piece:

"“I just try to do my best and try to be a positive example for everybody. I want to try to make everybody believe that everything is possible if you really want it, if you pay the price, if you make the sacrifice. Every single day you need to wake up and say, ‘This is my goal, this is how I have to do that, this is how I have to achieve that’. You need to understand that and start to do it. I still have the hunger to win trophies. I want to win trophies with Arsenal. I want to make this club shine again. This is my goal and I’m not going to stop until I’m doing that. It’s up to me to continue to have this hunger every single day.”"

These types of sentiments are always a little cheesy and can mean little than they ever actually say, but they do matter. Leadership, character, off-pitch charcter matters. As David Ornstein reported this week, Luiz is having quite the impact:

"“An absolutely incredible and impeccable force on and off the pitch around the club.”"

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The point is this: Luiz is having an impact at Arsenal that is bigger than what he produces on the pitch. And that is important.

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