Willian

[milka 3,346]

Quote

He said: '[I like] the way they play, everything is amazing - the stadium, and I think that with Arteta, Arsenal have a great opportunity to fight again for titles in the Premier League and in Europe so I'm very happy because of that.

'I'm excited to start. I can't wait to go on the pitch and do my thing to help my team-mates and to help this club to shine again. That's what I want.

'When I talked to [Mikel], the conversation was good, he gave me confidence to come to Arsenal. He said a lot of good things to me and that's why I have come to Arsenal.'

OK  every one new player speaking same stupid shit btw 

 

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Vesper 28,802]

The bottom line is Willian can play Arteta’s idea of football

https://theathletic.com/1992107/2020/08/14/willian-arsenal-arteta-tactical-fit/?source=dailyemail

Controversy seems to be stalking Arsenal at present. There aren’t too many Premier League clubs who could sign a seasoned Brazil international and have it greeted with raised eyebrows.

Nevertheless, the free transfer arrival of Willian on a three-year contract has prompted fierce debate.

Some of the cynicism around the deal is entirely understandable. Chelsea have allowed a number of their experienced players to move to the Emirates Stadium over the past two decades — William Gallas, Petr Cech, and most recently David Luiz — with decidedly mixed results. At Arsenal, landing a player from a rival club has become regarded as a warning sign, with Mikael Silvestre’s 2008 move from Manchester United another notable example.

Willian is also the third of Arsenal’s last four permanent signings to be a client of Kia Joorabchian, prompting questions as to whether the club are casting the net sufficiently wide in the search for new recruits. Furthermore, a three-year deal for a player who just turned 32 feels generous.

The moralising appears to have partially obscured the quality of the player, though.

This is someone who has won six league titles, seven domestic cups, and twice lifted European silverware. While the perception in Brazil is that he has underachieved at international level, Willian has won 70 caps and a Copa America title. His seven years with Chelsea saw him win five major trophies and finish with a record of 63 goals and 65 assists from 343 appearances. He was once voted the Fans’ Player of the Year there, while his own team-mates made him the Players’ Player of the Year on two separate occasions, most recently at the end of the 2018-19 season. This, unlike Luiz a year ago, is a player Chelsea actively wanted to keep.

Mikel Arteta and Arsenal believe they have added someone who can bring a winning mentality to their squad, as well as acting as a mentor for their younger players.

Speaking in November last year, Arteta’s Chelsea counterpart Frank Lampard said of Willian: “On the ball, we all know his ability. But his off-the-ball work is an outstanding example for Callum Hudson-Odoi, for Christian Pulisic, for other young players who think the only part of the game is going by people, crossing or shooting. He does the other side brilliantly, with absolute humility.” For Hudson-Odoi or Pulisic, read Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka, Reiss Nelson or Emile Smith-Rowe.

Yes, Willian is at the age where players typically start to drop off. However, Arsenal have determined that he is not your typical player.

They have taken a calculated gamble, hoping the benefit of the Brazilian’s ability and experience outweighs the detriment of his decline.

---

Arsenal have tried to sign Willian before.

Sandro Orlandelli, who was their lead scout in South America for a full decade, identified his talents when he was still a teenager. “I recommended Willian before he had moved up to the first team at Corinthians,” Orlandelli explains to The Athletic. “I had a big advantage: I had actually trained him for a while, back when I was a youth coach at the club, and always had an instinct about him.”

Orlandelli saw in Willian a raw but remarkable talent.

“He played in bursts,” says Orlandelli, now technical co-ordinator at Red Bull Bragantino of the Brazilian top flight. “He did something, then disappeared, then did something else and disappeared again.

“That could have been an issue in the Premier League, where you have to run non-stop. But I saw that this wasn’t down to genetics. It was a behavioural thing, a result of the way he had been trained. Nobody had taught him that he always needed to be on the move. No one had demanded that. But I saw that he was intelligent and understood the game. I saw how explosive he could be. So I judged that his inconsistency was just a habit and something that could be worked on. That happened over the following years, allowing him to become the Willian you see today.”

Arsenal’s initial attempts to sign Willian were thwarted by his inability to qualify as an EU national — a fact he has recently rectified by passing the requisite tests for British citizenship, albeit at the third time of asking. Arsenal failed to land him as a promising youngster. Fourteen years on, Willian has finally arrived in north London — this time as the finished article.

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Willian’s move to Arsenal sees him reunited with David Luiz. “I’ve known Willian since I was eight,” says the 33-year-old centre-half. “We played together when we were young in Sao Paulo. So we met each other at school, we played together until we were 10 or 11 and then he went to Corinthians, I went to Sao Paulo and then we met again in the (Brazil) Under-17s.”

The players moved to opposite sides of the European continent: Luiz to Benfica in Portugal, Willian to Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk. Willian left Brazil aged just 19, and settled into a growing Brazilian community in Shakhtar’s squad. Between games he’d study the bible with Jadson and Fernandinho, and it was in Donetsk that he was baptised as an evangelical Christian.

Willian was wildly successful in Ukraine, winning four league titles, three domestic cups and the 2009 UEFA Cup. In 2013, he moved to Russian outfit Anzhi Makhachkala, who were in the midst of an ambitious project that had included recruiting Roberto Carlos, Samuel Eto’o, Lassana Diarra and Christopher Samba. However, just eight months after signing Willian, billionaire owner Suleyman Kerimov imposed dramatic budget cuts. The entire squad was put up for sale, including Willian, who attracted interest from a number of Premier League clubs.

At the time, Arsenal were already engaged in early discussions with Real Madrid that would ultimately lead to Mesut Ozil’s move to the Emirates Stadium. Willian’s suitors were Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. Brendan Rodgers had enlisted Steven Gerrard to launch a charm offensive on the Anfield club’s part. Via text message, a conversation ensued in which Gerrard explained, “I think Liverpool would be a great move for you. The fans are amazing, the history is there and we’re building a good team. You could do something great here — and we’d love to have you.” Willian’s response? He was concerned the Anfield club could not offer him Champions League football.

There was also the lure of London to consider. Willian got as far as undergoing a medical at Spurs, before Chelsea and their then-manager Jose Mourinho stepped in. The intervention of childhood friend Luiz helped tip the balance in their favour. “The Brazilians at Chelsea called me, especially David Luiz, who told me to come quickly,” says Willian. “I was very happy to have them around.”

The manner of his signing made Willian an instant Chelsea hero. It is reminiscent of the story of Emmanuel Petit, who held talks with Tottenham before then-chairman Alan Sugar unwittingly paid for a taxi to take him to Arsene Wenger’s house to meet the Arsenal manager and vice-chairman David Dein. Willian’s decision has been immortalised in song: “…they bought his flight, but Willian he saw the light. He got the call from Abramovich and off he went to Stamford Bridge. He hates Tottenham, he hates Tottenham.” Any enemy of Spurs is a friend of Arsenal.

At Chelsea, Willian became the “non-stop” player Orlandelli had envisaged. He swiftly learnt the tactical discipline Mourinho required of him. By 2014, his new manager said: “I have Dr Paco Biosca, the doctor at Shakhtar Donetsk for many years with Willian, and he says he doesn’t recognise Willian now: the professional, the player, the commitment. The only thing he recognises is the talent.” Mourinho’s admiration for Willian is such that he later tried to take him to Manchester United.

That mission was doomed to fail. Willian quickly grew to love life in London, especially with Chelsea’s Brazilian clique around him. He had a close circle of compatriots in Oscar, Ramires, Filipe Luis, Diego Costa and, of course, Luiz. His twin daughters have grown up in the capital, where Willian and his wife have established a digital branding agency. Together, he and Luiz invested in a west London Italian restaurant called Babbo. With the help of a self-testing phone app, he eventually passed that pesky citizenship test. London has become his home.

When his contract ran out at the end of last season, Willian had offers from Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Miami of MLS and Arsenal to consider. It was Arsenal’s proposal that matched his preferences: the opportunity to remain in London, on a three-year deal. A move to the US would have been more lucrative, and Barcelona had offered a higher salary, but Willian was swayed by the vision presented by Arteta and technical director Edu.

Most concern among Arsenal fans relates to the length of that contract. In recent years, Arsenal have made a bad habit of handcuffing themselves to ageing stars.

Willian turned 32 on August 9. He arrives at Arsenal as a Champions League-calibre player, but it will be difficult to maintain that level until he is almost 35. Arsenal will hope a so far near-spotless injury record will slow the pace of his decline.

Arteta has backed the Willian deal throughout, and is insistent his team requires an injection of such ready-made quality. “Everything that comes through our door has to be something that significantly increases the level of the team,” he explained in July. “You need players that have the experience in the Premier League and they’ve done it here, so in terms of adaption the process it is much quicker.”

The coach prizes experience. It’s why Sokratis Papastathopoulos has remained among the core group, despite the fact that, from a technical perspective, he does not meet Arteta’s desired criteria for a central defender. Sokratis’s attitude has been exemplary throughout, and that’s in part why Arteta was prepared to use him in the final few minutes of last month’s FA Cup Final.

Willian ticks the “experience” box, but he can play Arteta’s idea of football too. Tactically, he opens up a number of possibilities. Although most of his football for Chelsea and Brazil has been played from the right, he is also capable of operating from the left or through the centre. Given Arsenal’s struggles to create goals from central areas, it would be no surprise to see him deployed in the No 10 role. He’s also an effective dead-ball expert with his right foot, something Arsenal arguably lack.

He joins a growing Portuguese-speaking enclave at Arsenal. As well as Brazilians Luiz and Martinelli, there is Cedric Soares, Pablo Mari and the bilingual Emi Martinez. The Athletic understands Edu hopes to add highly-regarded Brazilian physio Bruno Mazziotti to the contingent.

At Shakhtar and Chelsea, Willian was able to help foster a little community that felt like Brazil. Given Edu’s connections in the South American market, it may be a smart move to do the same. It’s telling that when Arsenal released the majority of their international scouts, they retained Jonathan Vidalle and Everton Gushiken in South America. Seven years ago, it was a phone call from Luiz that helped persuade the 25-year-old Willian to join Chelsea. Perhaps Arsenal’s burgeoning Brazilian community could help them attract the next generation of stars.

For now, Arsenal welcome Willian.

Where he came from and who his agent is will matter much less than the performances he produces. Time will tell whether this proves to be a good deal for Arsenal in the long-term. In the short-term, however, they appear to have got themselves a very good player.

[Vesper 28,802]

8 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

madness

[chelsea_4_eva 1,157]

Ooff Willian collecting them coins!

[1chelsea 864]

Ooff Willian collecting them coins!

Bitcoin or Shitcoin

[Fulham Broadway 16,845]

He had around 100 million in the bank last year, now the gooners going to give him another 36 million. Not bad for the lad born into poverty

[Atomiswave 6,072]

14 minutes ago, Mana said:

Can't wait for Alonso to join the village.

Willy looks like Danny Glover and Luiz looks like a 90 years old Stallone

[NikkiCFC 7,950]

4 hours ago, Special Juan said:

Lets be honest here it won't change who they are and what they are, he will be OK for them and nothing more.

If they are happy outlaying huge wages for him at his age then let them crack on.

Far more exciting and better things happening at CFC than not just Arsenal but even Tottenham.

Why you have Arsenal player as your favorite? 

[Special Juan 27,425]

3 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

Why you have Arsenal player as your favorite? 

I have no idea what you are on about?

[NikkiCFC 7,950]

3 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

I have no idea what you are on about?

On your profile on this forum. Fav player: Willian 

 

[Special Juan 27,425]

18 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

On your profile on this forum. Fav player: Willian 

 

I will change it to my nana.

[milka 3,346]

1 hour ago, Mana said:

Can't wait for Alonso to join the village.

 

 

[Tomo 21,733]

On 14/08/2020 at 1:14 PM, Vesper said:

does Robbie actually believe the tosh he is spewing????

wtf

7 great seasons??????, Willian as our mainstay player?????

How the hell has it gone unnoticed that both Conte and Sarri preferred Pedro?

[OhForAGreavsie 5,892]

On 11/08/2020 at 10:52 AM, Vincent said:

I find it remarkable how the big majority of the people here think Ziyech is going to succeed at Chelsea so easily. I think he will have big problems adapting to the Premier League, although i obviously hope he does well. I've seen him so many times and am simply not convinced and yes, he did very well in the Champions League. But let's be clear, how many games have you seen him in the Champions League? We can say we're lucky that we've signed him and the competition has been asleep, but i highly doubt that. 

A dose of reality. 

[OhForAGreavsie 5,892]

On 14/08/2020 at 5:29 PM, Fulham Broadway said:

He had around 100 million in the bank last year, now the gooners going to give him another 36 million. Not bad for the lad born into poverty

Well played that man.

I'd have been OK with Willian staying as a squad player on squad player wages but it's understandable if he wanted more than that, both on the pitch and in the bank. In the circumstances no one blames him for taking Arsenal's money and everyone would have been up in arms if Chelsea had offered him that kind of deal. All in all, the lad can go with our best wishes. He certainly has mine.

[NikkiCFC 7,950]

 

[Jase 43,479]

14 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

 

I don't believe for one second Man City, Man United and Bayern offered him a 2-year contract. That is just BS. Even if they did, them offering 2 years just like us, should have been a red flag moment but only Arsenal were desperate enough to offer 3 years.

And Willian felt discredited?  He might have overestimated his position or overplayed his cards. He is 32 years old this year. Did he really expect the club to give him a long term deal at that age? He should have been thankful that he even got 2 years, when the likes of Terry and Lampard didn't even get more than 1 year in the past and they contributed and achieved far more than Willian did!