Willian: I Asked To Leave Arsenal After Just Three Months

By The Editor
on 20th December 2021

Arsenal flop Willian claims he wanted out of the club three months after joining…

Former Chelsea winger Willian stated that he asked to leave Arsenal just three months after joining due to feeling “unhappy” in what turned out to be a disastrous deal for all involved, the Brazilian told FIVE.

Willian and the club mutually terminated their agreement just 12 months into a three-year contract following a Bosman move from London rivals Chelsea.

It was a deal that was heavily criticised by many sections of the Gunners faithful as it felt all too familiar to recent signings who’ve failed at the club.

Petr Cech arrived from Chelsea for a fee of around £10million, though the iconic goalkeeper was long past his best and became a hindrance rather than help by the end of his time at the club.

David Luiz also crossed the London divide and while his commitment was never called into question, he too was a declining physical asset whose familiar trait of defensive errors continued to rear its ugly head.

Willian, however, was by a more catastrophic signing and despite Mikel Arteta’s desperation to make it work, the 33-year-old failed to even make the matchday squad by the end of last season.

Asked why he moved to north London, Willian replied: “I wanted to stay at Chelsea but I wanted a three-year contract.

“Chelsea said ‘no, we want to give you two years.’ It was like this and at the end of the season, I decided to join Arsenal.

“I spoke to Edu and Mikel and they showed me a good project, they showed me a lot of good stuff they wanted to do. I said to myself ‘I want three years, Arsenal are giving me three years and I want to stay in London’,” Willian added.

When pushed on why the move never worked out, Willian said: “I wasn’t happy.

“I don’t want to go into the details, but I wasn’t happy.

“After three months I said to my agent; ‘please, I want to go’.”