Gabby Agbonlahor says that Mikel Arteta is struggling with Willian and the Gunners are stuck with him because no one will want him.
The former Premier League striker has watched as Willian has been a no-show in almost every game since his free transfer to the Emirates.
Meanwhile, youngsters like Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe have come into the team and have both made significant impacts.
Agbonlahor says that Arteta is in a difficult situation when faced with the reality that he has Willian in his squad.
He wanted to sign the Brazilian, but now he cannot use him when others are delivering the results.
This means that he is now wondering what he will do with the attacker since he is on a three-year deal at the Emirates.
He also suggested that no other team will take him from the Gunners as he is not performing.
Agbonlahor said about Willian on talkSPORT as quoted by HITC: “Willian for me, it’s a difficult situation Arteta is in. He is probably thinking to himself, ‘I am not going to play this guy. I have got young players who are more hungry, more determined to play for Arsenal’.
“But he has got a three-year contract, so you can’t get rid of him because I don’t think anyone is going to take him at the moment, so you might as well use him when you can.”
Willian has provided just 3 assists from 25 competitive games for Arsenal.
Leave him alone and give him the chances he now requires , he is a good player and needs more time and games
I hope this is a joke
It most definitely is
Willian is a total waste of space and is laughing all the way to the bank for doing zilch. At least his mate Luiz puts a shift in, he is stealing a wage.
He provides experience, leadership and guidance to the our huge contingent of young players…..
Most fans think you can play an entire team of U23 or U21 and win the league
Anyone watching AMN? Having an excellent game in my opinion…I bet he’s pleased to be out of the firing line at The Arsenal with our fans.
his final ball has always been his letdown. i hope he could improve that. if he does ill take him over ceballos
Exactly
hes playing without pressure from fans
He will improve with regular football
Much improved performance from AMN .Ten men WBA had the chances to win the match against a team which I would not pay to watch.
Whoever gave this washed up has been a 3 year contract should be stoned.
Maybe a Brazilian buddy ?
A total waste of space and will be sniggering at what he is doing to get his huge wage for. At least Luiz is putting in a shift for his retirement run down, unlike lazy Willian.
Arteta doesn’t seem to mind. It’s not his 200k a week being wasted, and it seems more important to soothe his ego and prove to the world he is right about bringing Willian to Arsenal.
He’s not fussed by consequences of poor play; not like he’s being held to same standard as Wenger or Emery.
I mean it’s not like we have any youngsters like Martinelli, Nelson, or Balogun that need minutes on the pitch to develop.
Jog on, nothing fishy going on here.
When our novice manager and his boss/underling Edu made the short-sighted decision to pursue Willian to such an extent that they were willing to not only pay an unseemly wage, for a 30+ former “super” sub, but likewise offer guarantees regarding his selection opportunities, I’m sure they never envisioned that their absolute worse case scenario would have come to fruition
at least if he were on the injury table fan sentiment would have been largely empathetic, with a real sense of optimism for the future, and you wouldn’t have the same selection headaches …in this scenario, they’ve fluffed their lines from a wage bill perspective, they’ve created an untenable selection dilemma, they’ve raised some real questions regarding their ability to make future decisions and they’ve lost valuable minutes that should have been used, in a transitional year, to proper evaluate and develop their top young talent/prospects
maybe instead of trying so hard to continually shoehorn him into the lineup, why don’t they actually take some time to figure out what’s actually wrong with him, from a physical standpoint…he just doesn’t look like the same guy I watched last season take on defenders with quick and decisive movement
maybe he just took his foot off the gas pedal following the strangeness of last season and the subsequent shortened off-season or, even worse, he just got complacent after he signed on the dotted line…fact is his legs and cardio aren’t up to his usual standards, which is something you can least afford on the backside of your career
maybe the breaking protocol story is indicative of an even bigger problem, like he’s lost his footballing focus and/or his outside endeavors are starting to take precedence…very problematic if he’s already thinking about life after football when he’s got more than 2 years left on a 200,000/week contract
we need more and willing players who are willing to bring title for the team and for themselve