Former Chelsea and West Ham star Joe Cole has become the latest individual to slam Arsenal for their decision to hand out contracts to underperforming players.
The Gunners recently extended the contract of David Luiz for another season despite his poor run of form, and they also handed a four-year deal to Cedric Soares even though the Portuguese defender is yet to kick a ball since he joined them on loan.
The decision has baffled many fans and pundits alike and Cole has claimed that he pities Mikel Arteta who has to deal with these decisions because the Spaniard looks like a very decent manager.
He added that he can see that Arteta has a fine system that he wants to implement at the Emirates, but a player like Luiz has already passed his best and shouldn’t have been handed a new deal at Arsenal.
He claimed that it was an obvious show of lack of trust that Arteta left him out of the starting XI for Arsenal’s game against Manchester City and wondered why he would then be given a new deal.
“The one person I feel sorry for in all this is Mikel Arteta,” the ex-Chelsea star said on BT Sport as quoted by Mirror Sports. “Because he looks like a great coach and it looks like there is some kind of system he is trying to implement.
“We know David Luiz has been a top player and won everything in the game, but the performances this season, I don’t know who’s taking the decision to make him another year’s contract.
“Arguably one of their biggest games of the season, Arteta left him out.
“For me that’s a big signal, he’s left his most experienced player out of the biggest game against Man City – and then you give him another years contract. [It’s] muddled thinking.”
Only a few days ago Martin Keown, via the Metro, also questioned Luiz being handed a contract extension and he is not the only.
Resigning David Luiz is a mistake that can ruin Arteta’s career at Ashburton. And playing this “resigning” is Russian roulette. A single big error (and a loss of a game) by the clown vs Sheffield and Arteta has got a shot in the head. It’s suicide-football.