David Luiz Talks Arsenal Transfer, Says Chelsea Staff Begged Him to 'Come Back'

David Luiz has discussed the difficulty of leaving Chelsea to join Arsenal last summer and said some staff at Stamford Bridge pleaded with him to "come back" in the week after his departure. 

Luiz told OTRO he decided to leave Chelsea (for the second time) before he discussed a transfer to Arsenal, but the initial transition to a second Premier League club was not simple:

The 32-year-old won a Premier League title, a UEFA Champions League crown, two FA Cups and two UEFA Europa League trophies in two spells at Chelsea and was unsurprisingly missed in west London:

"I can be honest with you, the first three days or week was not easy to understand all the emotions or how I was feeling, because everybody knows my history with Chelsea.

"I had this connection with everyone at the club. It was so massive and big, and I was missing every single one.

"Every text message I was receiving, people were saying: 'Come back, come back, come back, come back, we are here for you.'"

His start at the Emirates Stadium was made more difficult when Mikel Arteta's predecessor, Unai Emery, came in for heavy scrutiny after results began to drop around October. The Gunners won only one of their last nine matches with him at the helm, conceding 18 times during that stretch.

Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville named Luiz—who joined Arsenal for £8 million—among other Arsenal defenders he suggested were "uncoachable" after Emery was sacked in November 2019:

Luiz has cultivated a reputation as a bubbly, loud personality, and he referred to one older member of the Chelsea staff whom he missed in particular:

"I give you the example of a gentleman there who is 75 years old. He was taking breakfast with me at the time when he had the opportunity.

"He was texting me: 'I am still waiting for you here to take the breakfast again.' This kind of thing was so difficult for me, because I am someone that sees the heart as the most important thing.

"But then after that, in the professional way, I was saying: 'It is a new moment for you. It is another big thing for you to do. Maybe if you stay in the comfort zone it is not going to be the best thing for you?'"

His decision to move looks better now that Arteta is at the helm. Tightening the defence has been one of his biggest achievements since being appointed in December, and Arsenal have gone from keeping five clean sheets in 20 games this season under Emery to keeping eight in 16 matches with Arteta at the helm.

Mark Mann-Bryans of the Press Association highlighted the importance of a consistent back-line selection and lauded Luiz for his helping hand in that: 

The Brazil international concluded: "If you look at my history of life I was never wishing to stay in the comfort zone. It was a top decision. [Arsenal] are a big club. I want to make this club improve and to shine again. The first days were difficult, but after that I started to adapt. Now I am so happy, and I want to do big, big things with Arsenal."

Not all Chelsea fans took it well at the time of his transfer that Luiz had swapped Chelsea for one of their London rivals, via Soccer AM:

The prospects of winning silverware at Arsenal look more promising under Arteta.

Luiz—who boasts 56 caps for Brazil but hasn't made an international appearance since June 2017—has a contract at the Emirates until June 2021.