‘When I left Chelsea I notice that! Willian finally reveals why he regrets leaving Chelsea for Arsenal
Willian made more than 350 appearances for the Blues and helped the club win two Premier League titles, the Europa League, FA Cup and EFL Cup before leaving for Arsenal.
However, Arsenal were widely praised for signing Willian in the summer of 2020 after he had spent seven successful seasons at Chelsea.
Well, Willian failed to make an impact at Arsenal and opted to leave the Gunners after just one season.
Discussing his frustrating spell at Arsenal with FourFourTwo magazine, Willian said: “Things didn’t really go the way we’d all planned.
“I wasn’t happy there, and when you’re not happy in a place, it doesn’t matter how much you try – you’re not going to be able to deliver what people expect of you.
“We had a great project and believed that it would work out, but it didn’t, and so I chose to leave and do what was best for me.”
Willian added: “At the beginning, I was super excited – new club, new team-mates, new everything.
“Whenever you turn up at a new club, you want to show what you’re capable of, and I arrived there wanting to play my best football.
“But as time went by, I realised that things weren’t going to happen the way we’d planned.
“I wasn’t happy, and that’s an important factor in a footballer’s life. When you’re feeling like that, there’s really no way you’re going to perform well, unfortunately.”
Walking away from £20m would have been a difficult decision for most players but Willian says it was a small price to pay in order to ‘pursue my happiness again’.
He continued: “There are moments in life when the money isn’t so important and you need to focus on what makes you happy; to look for a place where you have some pleasure working.
“That’s something I didn’t have there, and staying only for the money isn’t something I’m capable of doing – there are many other things that come first for me.
“I thought to myself that I couldn’t stay just because of a contract – after all, if I did, where would my motivation, my pleasure and my well-being go?
“So that’s what I had in mind. Everybody saw what I left behind in order to pursue my happiness again.”