The rumors of Barcelona being interested in signing David Luiz came out very early this offseason, and have had their ups & downs, especially when Chelsea declared they aren’t letting anyone go. But it seems the Spanish champions haven’t given up on the Brazilian centre back, possibly sending in a closer to London to try and seal the deal.
Barcelona know they need to improve their back-line by the beginning of the new season, and the name of David Luiz has always been there. But it seemed reasonable before Jose Mourinho officially became the Chelsea manager. Since he took the job, he’s been saying non-stop that he doesn’t plan on letting anyone go.
According to the Daily Mail, Barcelona are sending football director Raul Sanllehi in order to negotiate the transfer. Both clubs, officially, haven’t made any announcement on the subject, and it all simply comes down to speculation. However, David Luiz himself hasn’t really spoken this summer about the whole situation, and if Chelsea do agree to a fee that will surely be more than £30 million, he won’t have a problem with leaving to Barcelona.
Luiz has been with Chelsea since 2011, signed from Benfica for €25 million. He wasn’t the most consistent of defensive figures during his early days, but always stood out with his outstanding technique, quite rare for a centre back.
Things have gone quite well for him during the two “full” seasons he’s been with the club, winning two European titles in the Champions League and the Europa League, while the level of his defending has been much higher than before, with the amount of mistakes and moments of his mind going “blank” have been decreased significantly, making him into the team’s best defensive player.
Some, like the Mirror, suggest that Chelsea aren’t going to sell him for anything less than £45 million, which means they simply don’t want to see the 26 year-old leave, but there’s a chance that if Barcelona are serious and this becomes more than just papers doing the negotiations, they sell him for a lot less.