‘I really wanted to stay at Chelsea but this is what happened’, Willian finally opens up
Willian spent seven years as a Chelsea player, and the Brazilian did enough within that timeframe to win the hearts of Chelsea fans.
The Brazilian would eventually leave Chelsea at the end of last season, after a contract wrangle with the club. Willian wanted three years deal but was only given two years maximum by the club.
The 32-year-old eventually left Chelsea as a free agent to Arsenal, and he has admitted that he never wanted to leave Chelsea, and that it wasn’t an easy decision to make.
“It was difficult to make that decision, it wasn’t easy,” he told UOL. “Because, as you said, the rivalry between the two clubs is very big.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to leave Chelsea for Arsenal. It was well thought out, a thoughtful decision, talking to my wife and even the agent many times.
“And one of the things that made me decide to go to Arsenal was really the various conversations I had with Mikel Arteta, with Edu too. They convinced me to go there that it’d be a really cool project, that it’d be really good for me to be able to go there.
“That I’d be a very important player in the squad. That they wanted to change the philosophy of the club, to make it possible for Arsenal to fight again in the Premier League, to play in the Champions League again.
“So there were several conversations I had, several conversations that ended up pleasing me, so that’s why I ended up making this decision. But it really wasn’t easy to make that decision, it had to be well thought out.
“Look, I think some fans asked this question. But the majority understood because I didn’t leave the club with a fight, I left the doors open. Everyone knew the conditions, I really wanted to stay.
“We ended up not finding an agreement, I ended up asking for three years, Chelsea wanted to give two, and everyone knows this story. That’s why I ended up leaving.”