Chelsea defender David Luiz insists he has “nothing to prove”, as he struggles to convince Jose Mourinho that he is worthy of a regular place in his starting line-up.
“I don’t need to prove anything,” the defender told the Evening Standard. “Everyone knows who David Luiz is — I want to play football and enjoy myself on the pitch — so when I have an opportunity to play, I want to enjoy just that.
“I am just one player in the team. Sometimes the manager can put me in, sometimes not. It’s his choice. This is a big club and we have many, many good players. If Chelsea just had 11 players we would win nothing.
“Mourinho chooses his 11 players to play, his philosophy and tries to do the best job for Chelsea. That for me is normal. We just have to show we want to play. Everyone had an opportunity to play against Swindon and show our football.”
Really puzzling why Mourinho does not rate Luiz, either as a central defender or in a holding midfield role like Rafa Benitez used his last season,
Benitez was quoted last week in the Daily Mail as saying this about Luiz:
“He’s one of the best central defenders in the world.”
‘I was coaching him and I can tell you he’s one of the best in the world, because he has everything. You just have to manage him properly – and then he is one of the best in the world.
‘I could explain exactly what I wanted and tactically he is very clever. He needs just the people who can give him the ideas and the instructions of what to do and then he will do them, because he is very clever.’
‘I don’t see too many better in the air. I don’t see too many better or quicker or faster than him. I don’t see too many technically better. Tactically, he is much better than the rest of players around him.’
Chelsea turned down two bids for Luiz this summer from Barcelona and I expect the Spanish side to return with another bid in January if Luiz is still not starting on a regular basis.
January is going to be an interesting month for Chelsea because if Luiz, Juan Mata and Fernando Torres are not playing on a regular basis, they will want to leave Chelsea so that they can get picked for next summer’s World Cup squads.
