Former Chelsea and Arsenal winger Willian has delivered a scathing assessment of his time at the Emirates Stadium, admitting that he regretted crossing the London divide almost immediately after walking through the door.
Speaking with The Obi One podcast about his high-profile free transfer in 2020, the Brazilian veteran revealed that assurances made by manager Mikel Arteta and technical director Edu quickly dissolved into frustration, leaving him miserable despite the lucrative three-year contract on the table.
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Having wanted a three-year extension at Stamford Bridge that Chelsea were unwilling to grant, Willian was swayed by Arsenal’s ambitious vision.
“I met them couple of times,” he said. “I met Arteta, I met everyone there. And they said “we want you to be the main guy”.
“Arteta said to me: “We’re going to play like this and I want you to be the main guy, I will build the team around you, I want to give you the key to the club”.
“When I heard that, obviously I love Chelsea but I was in the last year of my contract, I was 32, and I was thinking three more years in London, stay with my family in London, they love London. And then I decided.
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“To be honest I should have stayed but at that moment I was thinking maybe the best solution is to go there, and I signed for three years there but it was not good.
‘I got frustrated,’ he added. ‘I am not saying it is their fault, but when you heard a lot of things and then you join the club, things that are not the same as what they told me, I got frustrated straight away. Three months later I said to my agent I want to leave, and that I made a big mistake leaving Chelsea.’
While Willian eventually resurrected his Premier League career later with Fulham, his recollections of his time under Arteta serve as a stark reminder of how quickly high-profile promises can unravel in the pressure cooker of North London.
