Chelsea’s second farewell to David Luiz will be on worse terms than the first

David Luiz joined Willian after the FA Cup in flushing many years worth of goodwill with a single immature social media post. The Blues now must sell him, and this time it will be without the fondness and hope of a reunion down the road.

When David Luiz returned to Chelsea from Paris Saint-Germain, it came across as a typical desperation buy. The board either didn’t want to spend the cash for a center-back, or they tried to negotiate for their top target, lost out and settled for Luiz.

Whatever series of incompetence on Chelsea’s part brought him back, you only needed one look at him to see he was not a typical Antonio Conte center-back. He abandons his post frequently, and ends up usually getting caught in midfield. An clear memory from last season is Conte yelling at Luiz from the sideline.

Yes, he is beloved at Chelsea, rightfully so from previous years. But defensively he is not reliable, and simply not good enough anymore. And he is no longer on a team who beats their league opponents by four goals. In those earlier days, his errors did not matter as much. Now, they cost goals, games and trophies.

Antonio Conte is undoubtedly sitting in his London home, bags packed, staring at the phone with the plane ticket next to it, just waiting for the Board to call. Luiz should be just as ready to leave.

In fact, whoever takes over for the Italian should be eager to rid himself of David Luiz. Nobody is interested in a 31-year old defender whose defense is suspect and attitude is childish. Luiz and Willian posted FA Cup team pictures with Antonio Conte cropped out. This isn’t the first time the Brazilian contingent has done such a thing, as Diego Costa once posted a team sheet with Antonio Conte’s name crossed out.

It’s a culture bound to repeat itself until Roman Abramovich and the board give a worthy manager some power. Antonio Conte should be handed a new extension and more responsibility. Instead he’s fighting an uphill battle with players he cannot trust, and whom the board won’t properly replace.

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David Luiz was supposed to be a leader when he came back, someone who would set the standard of what it means to play for Chelsea. Instead, he proved he was exactly what we critics thought he was: useless.