Arsenal star may need to accept a very different role if he wants to sign a new deal

If you have David Luiz in your team then you do have to accept that he’ll cost you two or three games a season thanks to a total meltdown, but he’s clearly a great influence in the dressing room and he’s still a good defender.

He will turn 34 in April so he’s reached that point in his career where he’s now a year to year proposition, and a report from Football.London has looked at the idea of him getting a new contract.

They do point out that Mikel Arteta wants to keep him around and it looks like Luiz is open to staying, but they also suggest that other reports stating that he’s been offered a new deal are wide of the mark.

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Interestingly they do go on to suggest that talks could be opened at the end of the season, but it’s likely that he would need to accept a drastically reduced role in the team and he might even need to take on some coaching duties to make it worthwhile.

Arsenal are well stocked at centre back and it still remains to be seen what the plan is with William Saliba on his return, but if Luiz is such a good influence then it may be worth keeping him around to keep that experience in the dressing room.

His pace will continue to leave him as time goes on so that will limit his use if Arteta doesn’t want to play with a deep defensive line, but it certainly looks like an extension is still on the table.