David Luiz's agent Kia Joorabchian has insisted that the Arsenal's defender's future will be "resolved this week".
Luiz is set to drop into the free agency pool at the end of the month, and Arsenal have yet to decide whether or not to tie him down to fresh terms.
The Brazilian's chances of earning a new deal were damaged on Wednesday as the Gunners suffered a 3-0 defeat away at Manchester City.
The 33-year-old came on for the injured Pablo Mari early in the first half, and his mistake allowed Raheem Sterling to open the scoring just before the interval. Luiz was then sent off in the 49th minute for fouling Riyad Mahrez in the area, which allowed Kevin de Bruyne to double to home side's lead from the spot.
Phil Foden added gloss to the result in stoppage time, and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher was scathing in his assessment of Luiz's performance post-match.
The ex-Liverpool defender suggested Luiz might have played his last game for Arsenal, but Joorabchian has jumped to the defence of his client.
The agent told Talksport of the Gunners centre-back's current position at Emirates Stadium: “The contract situation has dragged on not because of any reason, not because of the will of either Arsenal or David to finalise, but really because of the situation that occurred with this pandemic.
“Now it becomes a moment where you’ve got 14 days left [until the deadline] and you’re at a critical point of your career, where you’d probably three or four years left at the very top level, so that’s obviously at the back of your mind.
“That’s not an excuse for yesterday’s performance, but you are playing one of the best teams in England and Arsenal’s lack of control on the game would have put pressure on the defence. David wanted to have a different type of game.
“What I can tell you is the situation from Arsenal’s point of view will be resolved this week. Jun 22 is the deadline for most of the clubs to finish the season and beyond, irrespective of any other situation.
“It’s a case of allowing Arsenal to sort out everything that needs to be sorted out during this pandemic. There are several issues within the whole structure that will get resolved.”
Joorabchian added on Carragher's comments: “I spoke with David last night. These things happen in a game, and I’m not defending any situation but David is a guy who has won 20 trophies in his career, including the Premier League, the FA Cup, the Europa League and the Champions League.
“He’s won everything in Portugal and France too, so he’s a guy with a lot of experience and played under [Rafa] Benitez, [Maurizio] Sarri, [Antonio] Conte, [Jose] Mourinho, Unai [Emery] and now Mikel [Arteta].
“If you speak to all those top coaches, especially coaches like Benitez, who had worked with [Jamie] Carragher and David, and ask him who he’d choose first, I think he’d pick David all day long.
“Everybody can make a mistake, but I think it’s very important when you do make a mistake you come out and say sorry and hold your hands up. Arsenal have a lot of young players and it’s an incredible thing for those guys to see such an experienced guy with so many trophies to do something like that.”