David Luiz changed Arsenal’s entire future by doing one thing before Mikel Arteta released him

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David Luiz is more remembered for his time at Chelsea than Arsenal, but he made a major contribution at the Emirates Stadium as well.

The Brazil international made the move across London in the summer of 2019, when Unai Emery was still in charge of the club.

That move wasn’t greeted with much excitement, and Luiz also came under a lot of criticism for some of his mistakes.

However, what he did with Bukayo Saka before being released by Arsenal needs to be remembered for a long, long time.

David Luiz’s influence on Bukayo Saka changed Arsenal’s future

David Luiz came to Arsenal with bags of experience under his belt.

The defender had played over 400 games for club and country and had successful spells at Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain before donning the famous red and white.

Luiz had his difficult moments at the Emirates, but he also produced a few incredible performances. He played a key part in the Gunners’ road to winning the FA Cup in 2020.

That deserves praise, but what has proved to be even more important is that the Brazilian, along with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, played a big part in helping Saka adapt to the first team.

The Arsenal number seven has claimed that those two players helped him to be himself, and that proved to be the start of an incredible journey in senior football.

Saka told the BBC: “I always speak about David Luiz and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – they both helped me a lot coming into the team.

“The way they welcomed me, for me… I was quite quiet… obviously coming into Arsenal, these were like my heroes, players that I was watching from the stands, and I get to play with them now.

“So it was a bit of a different experience for me, and I didn’t know how to handle it.

“I didn’t want to rub anyone up the wrong way, so I just preferred to be a bit more quiet. But these guys… they welcomed me – it helped me feel myself – and gave me advice, and gave me confidence, that push.

“You could see it when I was on the pitch, the confidence I was playing with. It was definitely helped by them and obviously the rest of my teammates as well – that helped me too.”

READ MORE: Bukayo Saka says he was ‘shocked’ after what David Luiz once said about him in Arsenal team meeting

Bukayo Saka may not have been the same without David Luiz and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Over the years in football, there have been numerous examples of incredibly talented players not being able to make it at their first club after breaking into the team.

For some, the pressure is too much, while for others, they just don’t feel comfortable with the big names.

There was a risk that the same could’ve happened to Saka when he first came into the Arsenal first-team. If that had been the case, things would’ve been very different now.

Thankfully, Luiz and Aubameyang, who were the leaders back then, took the young Englishman under their wing and helped make him the player he is today.

For that, the two veterans deserve a lot of praise.