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David Luiz has taken a large pay cut to stay at Arsenal for another season.
Many Gunners fans thought the Brazilian had played his last game for the club after his disastrous cameo against Manchester City earlier this month, which saw him make a mistake for the first goal, and concede the penalty which led to the second, earning himself his second red card of the season into the bargain.
With his one year deal set to expire on June 30th, he was widely expected to leave, especially with the club looking to cut their wage bill.
However, it was then announced he had agreed a further year, and now it has emerged he has taken a substantial cut in his £125,000 a week wages to do so.
Arsenal have used some of the money saved to agree new permanent deals for loan signings Pablo Mari and Cédric Soares.
Luiz’s camp has tried to portray this as a selfless act but, in reality, it may reflect the realities of this summer’s transfer market for somebody of his age and profile. He had clearly expressed a preference to join his old side Benfica, but the Portuguese side made it clear that they could not afford him.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.