Following his years at Chelsea and Arsenal, it looks like Brazilian defender David Luiz had the chance to continue his career at a third club in London.
That’s because, according to a report from Globo Esporte, West Ham United had been interested in signing the 34-year-old this summer.
David Luiz became a free agent following the end of his contract with the Gunners, spent a few months analysing his options, and only agreed a deal to join Flamengo last week.
The Hammers are said to be one of the clubs who were in the race, but they weren’t directly battling the Rio de Janeiro side, as the report says there was a long list of contenders.
According to Globo Esporte, David Luiz chose Flamengo for two reasons. First because he doesn’t want to be known in Brazil as the defender from the 7-1 defeat to Germany in 2014. He was also attracted by the fans’ appeal for his signing, as he had around 600k messages per day and received two million new followers on his Instagram account.
Sources close to the player told Globo he’s very eager to win the Copa Libertadores and face Chelsea in the Club World Cup at the end of the year.
Despite not signing David Luiz, West Ham ended up getting one of his former teammates at the Blues, as the Hammers purchased Kurt Zouma in a €35m deal in the final week of the transfer window.
