David Luiz should win player of the year, ahead of any of his Chelsea team-mates

The Brazilian centre-back has proven his doubters wrong, and proven Antonio Conte right, after a brilliant season, even with a knee injury

David Luiz has played most of the season with a long-standing knee injury (Getty)

Last September was a very different place at Chelsea and almost nothing that has happened since was predicted at the start of the season. But there is one thing that Antonio Conte called at the very start, which has been utterly vindicated. “David Luiz is 29,” Conte predicted when Chelsea re-signed the Brazilian, “a fantastic age for him to become one of the best defenders in the world.”

The words were laughed at back then, with people always seeing the worst in Luiz, especially after he was phased out of Chelsea by Jose Mourinho and then embarrassed by Germany in the World Cup semi-final that summer.

But the reality is that Conte has been proven absolutely right by Luiz this season. He has been the best centre-back in the country by a distance. There have not been many better in other leagues either. Luiz has never had a better claim to be the world’s best than he does right now.

Chelsea are clearly going to win the Premier League title and their players are sure to take the PFA and FWA player of the season awards in May. Diego Costa would surely have won, but his toys did not stay in the pram during a tumultuous January. Eden Hazard says he is playing even better than in 2014-15, when he was footballer of the year. N'golo Kante is due some recognition as he picks up his second consecutive league title.

And yet there is an argument that David Luiz is less replaceable to Chelsea than any of those others. They can win without Costa, and even without Hazard they can put Willian into the front three. Kante’s energy is vital but they still have a solid pair in Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas.

But David Luiz is the lynchpin of the whole 3-4-3 system which is winning Chelsea the title. Playing in the middle of the back three he combines athleticism in defending one on one with the ability to bring the ball out from the back. Conte is not sure about using Luiz in a pair, but in a three he is unmatchable.

On Sunday at Turf Moor Luiz played again with a heavily strapped left knee. Conte called him a “warrior” in his Friday press conference for pushing through the pain barrier. Even though his mobility was impaired, Luiz was still brilliant. Andre Gray is dangerously fast but Luiz never let him escape in behind. The one chance Luiz offered up was when he was slow to turn and intercept Ashley Barnes, understandable in the circumstances.

Luiz’s use of the ball was as good as ever. He did not score a brilliant free-kick, as he did at Anfield, but his long passing to set up the counter-attack was always good. And when he had to hoik the ball through the gap between the James Hargreaves and David Fishwick stands onto the cricket pitch behind, he could do that too.

He is the type of defender that Manchester City have been desperately looking for this season, the type of player that Pep Guardiola had before

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There are not many centre-backs who have that combination of skills, athletic and footballing. That is what Conte meant when he said back in September that Luiz’s qualities are “in the middle” between Leonardo Bonucci and Andrea Barzagli. “Good technique, personality like Bonucci,” Conte said. “Good potential physically like Barzagli.”

That is the type of defender that Manchester City have been desperately looking for this season, the type of player that Pep Guardiola had before in Gerard Pique or Jerome Boateng, who could be trusted to defend one-on-one, freeing most of his team-mates to go and attack.

Luiz has developed into one of the Premier League's best defenders while away from Chelsea (Getty)

If City had signed Luiz then this season might have turned out differently for them, but in the real world they have been scrambling at centre-back all season. They have conceded 29 goals, more than Middlesbrough and Everton, and kept just five clean sheets, fewer than Bournemouth, West Ham United, Stoke City and Burnley.

Chelsea’s title, with 13 clean sheets, is built on their defence, just as it always was under Mourinho. And at the heart of that defence is the man they sold on back in 2014, back now and better than ever.