One of Arsenal’s summer window departures was that of Brazilian attacker, Willian, after the player apparently agreed to rescind his contract in order to move to Corinthians.
With two years remaining on his three-year deal, it’s believed that Willian has therefore saved the Gunners in the region of £20m.
Given how poor he has been for the north Londoners in the year in which he was there, arguably that was the very least he could do.
Signed from London rivals, Chelsea, he was expected to provide the impetus and movement in behind the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, but the move didn’t work out from day one.
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In hindsight, he would’ve been much better off staying at Chelsea, particularly as he’s now felt compelled to make that gesture in order to extricate himself from his deal with Arsenal.
However, his agent, Kia Joorabchian, has issued a savage parting shot and given a reason why his player has gone back home to Brazil.
“He terminated his contract and he did it willingly, he’s probably one of the first players to do so,” he said to Simon Jordan and Jim White on talkSPORT.
“Previously players, especially at Arsenal, have sat their contracts out, but he wasn’t one of them.
“When he joined, he sincerely joined because he was very much at the centre of Arteta’s thinking.
“Arteta make several presentations to Willian and made it clear he would be the focus point of how he would build the team around him.
“Willian had an offer from Chelsea to extend for two more years, but he wanted three years and he made the move. Unfortunately it didn’t work out for him.
“He was getting very heavily criticised over why he made the move here, but none of the things that have been suggested have not been the case.
“I spoke to Arsenal. I had a meeting with Arteta and Edu, they explained this has not gone well and I spoke to Willian.
“I don’t think it benefits any part to just let someone sit there for the sake of sitting there. When things go wrong, both sides should consider the fact it’s gone wrong and you need to find a solution.
“I think Willian did the right thing, he went for the project and the project wasn’t there.”
Whether that’s thinly veiled criticism at Arteta isn’t clear, though the Spaniard os coming under increasing pressure from all sides, and this attack would hammer another nail into his coffin.
It was because it didn’t work out the contract had to be terminated on mutual consent. This shows the club has project. Kudos to Willian, he is a perfect gentle man and an astute professional. An adage goes this, the horse that leads the opening of a race would not automatically win it. The game is in Arsenal’s court to reshape its season. CYG