Willian has played for Chelsea, Arsenal and Fulham in the Premier League but he has one regret about his time in England
Former Chelsea and Fulham player Willian regrets moving to Arsenal and wishes he stayed at Stamford Bridge. The Brazilian dribbler left Chelsea in 2020 after a contract dispute and made the switch to the Emirates.
The 37-year-old forward wanted a three-year contract – at the age of 32 – but Chelsea would only offer him a two-year deal. He would then pen a deal with London rivals Arsenal but things didn’t work out for him, which led to him waiving the last two years of his contract in a monumental move
Willian was on £240,000 per week at Arsenal and terminating his contract was a total loss of £20.5m. He would then move to boyhood club Corinthians, where he took a 70% pay cut.
After a season with the Brazilian club, Willian then moved back to the Premier League with Fulham, where he began to find form again and enjoy his football.
Speaking about leaving Chelsea, he admitted that he regrets the decision. “Yeah. I wish I’d never left,” he said to Sky Sports. “Of course it’s easy to say now, but when I stop and think about all the situations… I say to myself ‘I wish I never left’. It’s life. I’m happy now at Fulham, enjoying myself there, this is life.
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“I don’t know. It was in the middle of the… it was changing a lot. I was excited when I signed with them (Arsenal). I was training hard but it just didn’t work, and that’s it.”
Speaking to Rio Ferdinand on YouTube in 2021, he also said: But I wanted a three-year contract and Chelsea said no. I decided to join Arsenal and also because before we had conversations with Edu and Mikel [Arteta] as well.
“They showed me a good project, they showed me a lot of good stuff that they want to do. It was because of that.
“I wasn’t happy, that’s why I didn’t perform. When I arrived there I was happy, from the beginning I was motivated, I wanted to do well – new club, new mates, new project.
“But after three months, I said to my agent: ‘Please, I want to go’. I don’t want to speak bad about the club, because it is a big club. Arsenal has a big history.”
He continued: “In football, big players played there before as well. But it didn’t work, it didn’t work. It was, of course, the most difficult time of my career.
“So I said to myself, with my family, I cannot stay here, I am not happy here. I have to leave, find a way out, leave the club because if I stay I am going to stay the same.
“For me, it’s unfair to stay in a place that you don’t want to stay just because of the money. For me, it was that.”
