Player Review: David Luiz

Hello everyone and welcome to my latest blog post, where I will be reviewing Chelsea and Brazil defender David Luiz, who has burst onto the scene at Stamford Bridge ever since his £24million pound move from Portuguese side SL Benfica in 2011, and is now linked with a £35million pound move to reigning Liga BBVA champions Barcelona after his impressive and consistent displays at The Blues last season. 

I do not normally do a player review like this on my blog post, but who knows, it may become a regular thing soon.. 

Without further ado let me take you back to Luiz's days at Benfica before Chelsea signed him: 

March 12th 2007 -  David Luiz made his first league match appearance for Benfica, against Uniao de Leiria.

June 2007 - Luiz signed a new 5-year contract deal with the club after impressing the coaching staff.

January 11th 2009 - David Luiz finally scored his first official goal for Benfica, against rivals Braga.

2009-2010 season - Luiz became a regular first-team player, and impressed new manager Jorge Jesus so much so that he was given the vice-captain role. He made 49 appearances throughout that season and also won the Portuguese Liga Player of the Year Award, earning respect and recognition from European clubs all around the world. 

David Luiz was a main role in Benfica's league success and won the Portuguese Liga Player of the Year Award.

MOVE TO CHELSEA:

January 31st 2011:  Due to his impressive performances at Benfica, Chelsea decided to quickly sign Luiz up before any of the other big European clubs could try and lure him to their respective clubs.
He completed the transfer for around £24million pounds on a five-and-a-half-year contract deal. 

February 6th 2011: Luiz made his official EPL debut on this day, playing in a 1-0 home loss against Liverpool.

8 days later, he made his first start for the club and was awarded the Barclays Man of The Match Award for his performance. From then on he became a fans' favourite.. 

March 1st 2011: Luiz scored his first goal for the club, with a half volley shot against none other than the champions Manchester United..

March: Luiz won his Barclays Player of the Month Award this month for his consistent performances in defence and input to the Chelsea team with vital goals in matches 

2011-12: Luiz missed the first three matches of the 2011-12 season due to a knee injury, but made his return to the first-team on September 13th where he scored against Bayer Leverkusen in a UEFA Champions League group stage match.

He scored against Manchester United again on the 5th of February that season, and was awarded the UEFA Man Of The Match Award for his amazing defensive performance against Napoli in the UEFA Champions League Last 16.

2012-13: Luiz signed a new five-year contract deal with Chelsea on the 22nd of September 2012 after impressing the club with his defensive input and goals from setpieces throughout the season.

He ended up scoring 7 goals throughout last season, including an amazing long-range effort from 40 yards into the top corner of the net against Fulham in April - which was a Goal of the Season contender. 

Stunning strike: David Luiz scored an outstanding long-range effort against Fulham last season.

He also scored in both legs of Chelsea's UEFA Europa League semi-finals against FC Basel, with two great late finishes to put The Blues through to the final of the Europa League against Benfica.

Controversy and Critisicm:

David Luiz has despite having a successful spell at Chelsea, recieved some ongoing critisicm and controversy like most footballers in this day and age.

When he first arrived at The Blues in 2011, many journalists and fans were not happy with the way he defended, because he was not a solid defender but instead liked to do fancy flicks and cheeky backheels in the centre-back role.

Earlier this year, Luiz was widely criticized for a contrversial incident during Chelsea's 1-0 win over Manchester United. Luiz elbowed United right-back Rafael near the touchline, and in anger Rafael kicked him and was sent off. Luiz was then seen smiling while lying on the ground before moving around in mock agony. 

Cheeky: David Luiz was seen smiling at United fans after writhing around on the floor thanks to Rafael.

David Luiz later defended these actions by saying he was smiling at the Manchester United fans who he saw screaming insults and laughing at him.

International Career: 

David Luiz has made 28 appearances for the Brazil national team since 2010, but is yet to score a goal.

The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup has been the only international tournament that Luiz has been included in and played well in:

Luiz and Thiago Silva both started all of Brazil's matches and helped them win their fourth Confederations Cup title, with an outstanding display in the final against world champions Spain, where he made a heroic goal-line clearance to deny Barcelona forward Pedro from scoring. 

Heroic: David Luiz made a goal-line clearance to deny Pedro and Spain from getting back into the match.

So now the rumours have started, of a possible move to Barca for around £35million pounds. If there is one area that Barca need improvement, it is their defence and what better way to strengthen it by signing one of the best defenders in the world, almost in his prime and on top form? Of course Jose Mourinho will want to keep hold of Luiz, and will be looking for the biggest amount of money he can ge - that is if he can let him go.

Many Barca players have already admitted that they want Luiz to join them, including felow countryman and right-back Daniel Alves, who said earlier this morning that it will be "almost impossible" to sign Luiz but he would love him to join Alves at Barcelona.