Edu has revealed that he and Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta confronted Willian over his form after a poor first season in North London.
Arsenal signed the former Chelsea winger on a Bosman last summer but after giving him a £240,000-a-week deal, the Brazilian failed to prove himself a good addition.
Willian scored only one goal in 37 games across all competitions for the Gunners last season.
And earlier in the summer, Edu and Arteta grilled him over his form, with the Brazilian director admitting to Sky Sports that his inconsistency was a talking point.
He said: “A lot of different circumstances during the season, for the squad and for Willian as well, meant they were inconsistent.
“And then at the end of the season I came to Willian and myself and Mikel said: “How are you? Because I want you to be much more consistent. What is happening?” And then he mentioned to us that he wasn’t 100 per cent comfortable and when we heard that we made the decision that we did not want a player at the club who is not 100 per cent comfortable or 10 per cent with the team.”
Terminate
Earlier this week, Willian terminated his contract at Arsenal.
The 33-year-old would not become a free agent in North London until the year 2023, but he sacrificed some £20 million in unpaid wages [Sky Sports] in order to leave and join Corinthians.
And in fairness to the player, he also took a 70 percent paycut to re-sign for the Brazilian giants, illustrating that he is interested in playing football.
Arsenal have had some big-earners down the years who seemed happy enough to see out the remainder of their contracts without contributing anything on the field.
But Willian, to be fair, genuinely seemed to prioritise regular football over that option and although he was anything but a success at the Emirates Stadium, the circumstances surrounding his departure mean that he has recouped some respect nevertheless.
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