Kai Joorabchian has claimed that Mikel Arteta and Edu told him that ‘it isn’t going well’ with Willian at Arsenal, as he told talkSPORT (31/08/21 at 11:50 am).
The agent of the Arsenal star shared that Willian ‘willingly’ opted to terminate his contract in North London, as the club confirmed his exit on Monday evening.
This time last summer, Arsenal were about to sign Willian from Chelsea in the hope that he would push them towards the Champions League.
Not only did the Gunners miss their mark, but they failed to secure European football altogether, as Willian struggled heavily,
Joorabchian spoke about Willian’s troubles at Arsenal and what was Arteta told him before he joined and then prior to yesterday’s departure.
“He did terminate his contract,” said Joorabchian. “He did it willingly. I think he is probably one of the first players ever to do so.
“When he joined, he sincerely joined at the centre of Arteta’s thinking. Arteta made several presentations to Willian. He made it clear in the presentations that he would be the focal point on how he would build the team around him.
“One of the reasons Willian terminated his contract is because he was getting heavily criticised, ‘oh why did he move here’.
“I spoke yesterday with Arsenal, I was very clear I said ‘you guys exactly know how this happened’. I had a meeting with Arteta and Edu, they explained that this isn’t going well. And I said ‘leave it with me and I will talk to Willian’. I did talk to Willian.”
It’s a great gesture from Willian to terminate his contract and leave a lot of money, from the two years that were remaining in his contract, on the table.
It was pretty clear that it didn’t work out for Arsenal, but perhaps, just perhaps, the supporters think differently of the winger now.
Other players have been in a similar situation to Willian and they haven’t taken the recent actions of the Brazilian.
But it’s going to be interesting to see how this Willian departure, and funds being cleared up, helps the North London club bring in players before Tuesday’s 11pm deadline.
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