Chelsea FC Transfer News: David Luiz Sold to Paris Saint-Germain
Luiz becomes world's most expensive defender
Chelsea are selling defender David Luiz to French champions Paris Saint-Germain and have made the announcement on May 24. The transfer fee is reported to be £50million, and the deal now only requires the Brazil international and PSG to agree to personal terms and for the player to pass a medical exam.
We've agreed terms with PSG for the transfer of @DavidLuiz_4, subject to him agreeing terms & passing medical. http://t.co/r348ksJHRN #CFC
— Chelsea FC (@chelseafc) May 23, 2014
Luiz, 27, was signed from Portuguese side Benfica in Jan. 2011. Jose Mourinho is now in the middle of remodelling his club according to new home grown quotas and UEFA Financial Fair Play restrictions and David Luiz' sale would help fund summer shopping.
Another big move by the blues for the summer includes the signing of Atlético Madrid's Diego Costa.
David Luiz had been linked not only to PSG but also to a possible move to Bundesliga Champions Bayern Munich and Barcelona who are also looking to revamp their squads.
With a price tag of £50 million, Luiz becomes the world's most expensive defender and will aim to make his mark with Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic in Paris.
Chelsea will be looking at French defender Kurt Zouma to take over Luiz' spot in the Chelsea squad after the summer. Zouma was signed from St Etienne for £12.5m in January.
After having signed signed Luiz from Benfica in Jan. 2011 for £21m, at the same time as spending £50m on Fernando Torres.
He used by both Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho last season as a midfielder and not in his preferred defensive position.
The sale of Luiz will make him the most expensive defender in history and will put to question how Paris Saint-Germain hope to comply with Financial Fair Play restrictions having already been sanctioned for failing to do so in the first monitoring period.
The limitations imposed by financial fair play also mean that the £50m that Chelsea would earn from the sale of Luiz would be useful in staying inside Uefa regulations. They have managed to stay within the permitted losses for the previous accounting period but after their January spending on Nemanja Matic, Mohamed Salah and Zouma, they will have to be careful this summer.
Chelsea announced losses of £49.4m in December, although they still managed to come in under the £37.5m Uefa benchmark for the last FFP monitoring period.