Chelsea: David Luiz entering what should be his last season as a starter

David Luiz signed a two-year extension earlier this summer. His physical qualities and the back-log of young centreback talent behind him mean that second year cannot be as a Chelsea starter.

The 2019/20 season should be the last year David Luiz is taken seriously as a starting defender. That statement in itself assumes he ever should have been considered a defender in the first place as his hyper-aggressive, suspect defensive decisions have consistently put Chelsea in jeopardy.

Certainly, the crazy-haired Brazilian has produced some top quality performances over the course of his Chelsea career. He has had plenty of fantastic, often surprising, defensive recoveries – mostly after he put himself in the wrong position in the first place. But those excellent moments are still outnumbered by all the times he could not cover the tracks of his defensive lapses, rash challenges and switching off at the worst possible time.

Cast your mind back to the Bournemouth hammering last season for just one recent example. Luiz misplaced a pass right into the feet of Cherries midfielder David Brooks, only to jump into the next challenge, not win the ball and subsequently let Brooks continue his run in behind. Brooks collects the ball, proceeds to cross-over Luiz and fire it in for 2-0. While Brooks is a good player, a player with the experience and calibre of David Luiz should not be making those mistakes.

Luiz is one of the best passers in this Chelsea team. His ability to ping a defence-splitting pass fifty-odd metres is barely rivalled in the Premier League. But long range passing ability is not the most important quality a defender needs.

Assuming Frank Lampard prioritizes experience at the start of the season, and with the first match of the campaign less than three weeks away, this coming year should be Luiz’s last as a Chelsea starter.

David Luiz is 32 years old in the fastest, toughest and most physical league in the world. His legs are already starting to go, as happens to speed-dependent players his age. Where previously he had been able to match opposing strikers step for step, increasingly last season he was outpaced soundly by younger, faster players.

When age becomes a factor, players must adapt to combat their declining speed. For defenders, it boils down to two options when adjusting their game.

The first requires the player to play much deeper in order to not get caught out with balls over the top. The second necessitates a player ratchet up their intensity and aggressiveness to meet the ball right as it is delivered to the opposing player. This denies the opposition time and space to build up their own speed.

Based on the entirety of his career, David Luiz’s only realistic option is the second. For a player who has frequently been criticized for diving in, adjusting his game to be more aggressive is a frightening prospect for all Chelsea fans.

The second reason for this to be Luiz’s last year as a starter closely follows his age and declining speed. It is tough to justify playing Luiz for his passing ability alone. Chelsea will need defenders who excel at actually defending as they face world-class quality every week. A backline with Kurt Zouma or Andreas Christensen instead is far more defensively stable.

Zouma and Christensen are both good on the ball and, even if they weren’t, all they would have to do is send a pass out to any of Ross Barkley, Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic, or N’Golo Kante (who is an underrated passer).

Those midfielders can all pass, so the defenders’ passing ability becomes less of a factor and their defensive acumen carries more weight.

The third reason covers Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen. With Luiz continuing his stay in the starting XI, one of the two younger men would be relegated to fourth in line, and neither should be a fourth choice centre-back.

While there can be arguments over who is more ready between the Frenchman and the Dane for starting duties, both are too good to be fourth choice.

If Luiz stays beyond this year and one of Zouma or Christensen is stuck as fourth choice for the entire campaign, then it is more than likely they would look to move away. There are very few teams where either would be fourth choice. If the Blues won’t give them consistent playing time in the league or the cup runs then they will undoubtedly look for opportunities elsewhere.

Last, Luiz is clogging up the pipeline. Chelsea, as everyone knows, have an extensive roster of elite academy players as well as a plethora of young loan stars who need game time. At the top of that list is Fikayo Tomori, who spent last year as starting centre-back under Frank Lampard at Derby County.

The young defender was named Derby’s player of the year and has shown a composure on the ball that belies his 21 years. Tomori proved he can handle the Championship. Loan or not this year, by the 2020/21 season, if he continues to develop at the same pace, he will be deserving of some minutes in a Chelsea shirt.

If Luiz stays around then Tomori’s only chance of getting close to the Blues line-up comes with a string of long-term injuries to the backline. Possible, but not probable, and certainly not hopeful.

David Luiz has been a great servant to Chelsea. He has been exciting and explosive throughout his two stints at Stamford Bridge.

However, Chelsea need to realize that his career is in its twilight stages. He does not have the recovery speed he used to, and a stay beyond this year as starter would be a step backwards for Lampard and the Blues.

This is not to stay that beyond this season he should just be discarded by the Blues. His experience, team work and camaraderie are massive assets to the club and the dressing room. He just needs to take on a different role from the one he has become accustomed to in a Chelsea shirt.