David Luiz has been enjoying a resurgence under Sarri after being ostracized under Conte last season, starting 17 of the 18 matches in the league thus far — the 2-1 lost to Wolves away is the only reason he is 90 minutes shy of having player every Premier League minute available to him — but that still may not be enough to keep him at Chelsea for another season.

According to the Times (as cited by the Express), the 31-year-old defender has rejected Chelsea’s offer a new one-year contract.

Prior to the game, David Luiz said that the best Christmas gift the players could give is a win against Leicester. So that’s gone just about the way of the best gift the club could give to David, a multi-year contract extension.

It’s Chelsea club policy to only offer one-year deals to players over 30, and David will have certainly been aware of this policy by now having seen it in effect even for the likes of John Terry and Frank Lampard. So even if Sarri has publicly declared his hope that Chelsea will bend the rule for the curly haired quarterback — “the club wants a short contract and the players want a long contract; it is difficult for this reason but I think we can find a solution” — that’s not likely to happen.

Unlike with Cesc Fabregas and Gary Cahill, both of whom are in similar situations but are just backups this season and have thus featured heavily in transfer rumors, David Luiz is a key starter and there has been barely any chatter over his future. While that probably will change following this bit of news, there’s probably still time left to figure out a new deal for next year.

(On the other hand, maybe it’s time to move on to younger, more long-term options at the back?)