Frank Lampard has said the decision to sell David Luiz had nothing to do with player power. The Brazilian’s move to Arsenal on deadline day was one of the surprising moves of the window but the Chelsea manager said the decision was “a football one”.
Lampard, who is preparing for his Premier League debut as a manager against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, said: “I have to try to create a squad that’s in the image I want. I am not saying David wasn’t part of that. I just have to make decisions every day. They are not about trying to show power. They are about doing things the right way.
“The last thing I want to do is look back on these times and think I wish I had done that differently. These are just decisions that I do daily. If it looks like that from the outside [like a power play], then it wasn’t. I did it purely as a football decision.”
Arsenal paid £8m for David Luiz but Lampard was keen to stress the player had not gone on strike to force through a move. “We had some conversations over the last week, honest conversations because I know David well,” he said. “And I think the conclusion of that was that he moved on,” Lampard said.
“There certainly wasn’t any strikes. I’ll make that clear straight away. And in terms of fallouts, no, there weren’t. There were honest conversations. As a player, I always respected honesty from a manager whatever the news. And I think I got that back from David hence why he ends up moving on to Arsenal. There were no strikes.”
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The surprise move meant the final week before the start of the season was not as calm as anticipated but Lampard seemed unperturbed by events.
“The fact is this, we have a transfer ban so I can’t bring players in,” he said. “All I want to do is work daily with the players on the pitch to try to get the teams playing the way they can. Things will arise and selections will happen and that’s the job of a manager.
I am just trying to do it well. It definitely wasn’t a flexing of my muscles at all. It was just a decision that was made. As I say, it was very clear between us both. I think we have come out of it and my focus is on the team. Where can we go forward. We have four centre-halves. Three full internationals, one is an under 21 international who I worked with last year. We have other players in defensive areas.”