Barcelona have lodged a mega £25m bid for Chelsea’s Brazilian defender…
Barcelona have lodged a £25m bid for Chelsea’s 26-year-old defender David Luiz, according to Goal.
David Luiz is a stylish defender, who is praised for his technical attributes, but often criticised for his defensive failings. It is unclear whether Joe Mourinho would allow him to leave Stamford Bridge, as the Portuguese manager has traditionally favoured solid no-nonsense centre-halves rather than modern ball-playing ones.
Barcelona’s bid of £25m would recoup the money they paid for him from Benfica – but would split the opinion of fans. Some supporters see him as a liability, while others have already installed him as a cult hero.
The Catalan club have been targeting a new centre-back all summer, but have been rebuffed in their attempts to sign primary target Thiago Silva from PSG. To rub salt in their wounds, PSG also snapped up 19-year-old Marquinhos from Roma, who was said to be Barcelona’s backup plan if they failed to sign Brazil captain Thiago Silva.
As a result, Barcelona are still very short in central defence. While Gerard Pique is expected to start in defence for years to come, his defensive partner Carlos Puyol is injury prone and ageing. Barcelona have regularly had to use midfielders like Javier Mascherano or Alex Song alongside Pique – and played the inexperienced Marc Bartra in their Champions League semi-final defeat to Bayern Munich.
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