In a blow to Arsenal’s bid to sign him, Chelsea has been urged to keep Willian beyond this season by one of the Brazilians teammates.
The 31-year-old will be out of a contract in the summer, and he looks set to leave Stamford Bridge after seven years.
The Blues had offered him a new two-year deal, but he told the club that he wanted a three-year contract instead. Chelsea isn’t prepared to accept those demands, and he could join David Luiz at Arsenal.
Tottenham and Juventus have also been linked with a move for the attacker ahead of the next transfer window, but Chelsea ace Jorginho has urged the Blues not to allow a player of his quality and personality to leave them.
“The only thing I really feel like talking about is that it would be really a shame to lose a player like Willian,” Jorginho said as quoted by the Standard.
“Not just the player, but the person he is. The guy, the professional he is.
“That’s what I understand, because it’s also complicated to get into that personal part and ask how the situation is. So I don’t feel like asking him ‘so, why haven’t you renewed it yet?’. So I keep it to myself, I always talk to him.
“So it would be a shame because apart from the potential, the quality that he has, which is absurd, that for me he really is above average, he’s a phenomenon, it’s something that Chelsea really shouldn’t lose.”
Willian has been one of the top free agents that Arsenal has considered signing when the transfer window reopens. The Gunners are looking to David Luiz to help to convince the attacker to join them despite interest from other clubs.
Stay, Willie, stay! Please. We don’t need you! We don’t want you! We have no use for you! We have no jersey that smal.