Not great news via the usually reliable Dan Levene's twitter this morning:

Negotiations with Benfica over David Luiz have ended, and the player is not coming.

I guess there's not much else to say, there, as I trust Dan. I think this is a real shame - my love for David Luiz probably makes me overstate his abilities, but I thought he would almost immediately become a first choice centre back for the club and one of the few players capable of being groomed into a player in the mould of Ricardo Carvalho. I maintain, as I have since before the season started, that the team's depth in the centre of defence is a major liability until Jeffrey Bruma proves that he can start for Chelsea without causing any major disasters.

Without Luiz, Chelsea will presumably be focused on the continued battle with Liverpool to sign Fernando Torres, although there might be wiggle room to go after a different defender now. I'm not seeing much chance, though. This is desperately disappointing after weeks of rumours that this deal was close at hand, although many quite rightly questioned whether spending such a large sum of money on a 23 year old centre back was wise. We're in wait and see mode over what Monday brings now, I guess.