David Luiz has lifted the lid on "honest" talks with Frank Lampard before leaving Chelsea for Arsenal .
The Gunners defender swapped Stamford Bridge for the Emirates in the summer in a surprise transfer following the appointment of his ex-Blues teammate Lampard.
Luiz insists the decision to leave Chelsea was made before Arsenal declared their interest in the Brazilian, despite only penning fresh terms in west London in May.
“I decided to leave Chelsea before there was contact with Arsenal," he told The Telegraph. "People do not know that but I decided early to leave Chelsea. After that I had contact with Arsenal and I took a decision which everybody knows was not easy.
“Me and Lampard, we had honest conversations. Man to man, me and him. His ideas of football were different to mine. We just agreed: ‘OK, we move on’. In an honest way, in a mature way.
"We played together, we won together. We won the Champions League, the Europa League, everything together. It was done in a mature way.”
Luiz had two spells at Chelsea, either side of a three-year stint at Paris Saint-Germain.
In all, he scored 18 goals in 248 appearances for the Blues, helping them to a Premier League title, the Champions League, two Europa League crowns and two FA Cups.
