Lucas Moura has said he doesn’t blame Arsenal manager Unai emery for leaving him out of the Paris Saint-Germain team during the pair’s time together in France.
In 2013, Lucas joined PSG from Sao Paulo and made over 150 appearances in Paris before moving to Tottenham in January this year.
But the Brazilian barely played in his final few months at the club under Emery’s management, mainly because PSG signed Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in the summer of 2017.
Lucas suddenly found himself out of favour, unable to dislodge the club’s major new signings on either wing, resulting in a January transfer to the Premier League.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s north London derby, when Lucas will meet Emery for the first time since leaving PSG, the 26-year-old refused criticise his former coach.
“I need to respect the decision of the coach. I know that it’s difficult for him because he needs to choose 11 players to play,” Lucas said (via Sky Sports).
“I don’t like to look behind. I like to look forward to what I can do, what I can win. I have nothing against Unai, I respect him. He is a very good coach.
“I try to show it [and] him at Spurs [that I deserve to play for a big team]; to enjoy the life because I love to play football. I forgot the last five or six months that I had at PSG.
“I like to think about the four years when I was very happy there and I won a lot of trophies. The last year was to learn and grow up. Now I think I am a player more experienced and more strong.”
After initially struggling for Spurs, Lucas has become an important player this season and has been regularly used by Mauricio Pochettino.
His brace against Manchester United at Old Trafford remains the highlight of his campaign so far, but Lucas would endear himself to the Tottenham fans even more with a goal at Arsenal.
