David Luiz facing several more weeks on the sidelines — report

The knee injury that’s been affecting David Luiz for the last 12 months (thanks, Sergio Aguero!) is set to continue for at least another month according to the latest dispatch from Matt Law in the Telegraph. The report claims that the center back is ready to “start running properly again” this week having already missed the last month, but that full fitness is “some weeks” away yet.

While some believe that the injury is just an elaborate cover for a fallout between the defender and head coach Antonio Conte — and this story itself is presented as if framed by the January transfer window and David Luiz’s need to be healthy and sale-able for it — there’s a good chance that the knee problems are very real and, indeed, serious, to use Conte’s word (who called the issue a “big inflammation”).

Regardless, exit-rumors have been swirling for the past month (including Arsenal in an Express EXCLUSIVE, if you’re looking for a laugh) and could very well come true either in January or the summer, by which time David Luiz will only have one year left on the three-year deal he signed when he returned to the club in 2016. A sale next month would surely require Chelsea to sign a replacement first, which isn’t looking all that likely at the moment (the return of the Virgil van Dijk rumors is a case of someone asking the question first and then making a story out of Conte responding). Andreas Christensen has filled in admirably and has even earned himself a new contract (soon!), but we can’t tackle the second-half of the season with just four center backs.