Frank Lampard has dismissed reports of a rift with David Luiz prior to the defender’s surprise move from Chelsea to Arsenal.
Luiz, who was in his second spell at Chelsea, did not train with the rest of the squad the day before making the switch to north London.
That fuelled speculation there had been a fall-out with new Blues boss Lampard, who is keen to give Kurt Zouma run in the side and decided that Luiz could leave.
Speaking at a news conference on Friday afternoon, Lampard also dismissed suggestions that Luz had gone on strike.
“We had some conversations over the last week – honest conversations, because I know David well and I think the conclusion of that was that he moved on,” Lampard said.
“It’s an area of the pitch where I have competition. There’s going to be competition through the year and people will need to make that shirt their own, as they will all over the pitch.
“It’s a competitive area, so he’s moved on. I and we as a club certainly wish him the absolute best because he’s been part of a lot of really good things in our recent history.”
Lampard, a former team-mate of Luiz, insisted he decided the Brazilian should not take part in training because by then it was clear a move was in the offing.
“There certainly wasn’t any strikes, so I’ll make that clear straightaway,” Lampard said.
“In terms of fall-outs, no there weren’t. There were honest conversations and I think as a player I always respect honesty from a manager, whatever the news, and I think I got that back from David, hence why he ended up moving on to Arsenal. There were no strikes.
“The day David didn’t train was a decision that I made because we were in the middle of this and we were talking and it was quite clear which way it was going.
“That was not a punishment, or because there was a strike, or being ostracised at all.”
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This post was last modified on 09/08/2019