Arsenal is on the verge of completing the free signing of Willian from Chelsea now that he is available.
The Brazilian has spent the last seven years of his career in London playing for the Blues, but it appears that he will now look for a new challenge across town at the Emirates.
The main sticking point in his negotiation with the Blues is that they wanted to hand him a new two-year deal, but the Brazilian was insistent on getting a three-year deal.
Chelsea decided that they couldn’t proceed further if he won’t give-in and he is now free to join another team.
Arsenal is leading the race to sign him and the Gunners have reportedly agreed to hand him a new deal for three years and that decision has been questioned.
European football expert Gabriele Marcotti has questioned why the Gunners will hand him a deal of that length because he doesn’t expect him to be at the top of his game for that long.
He said on the Transfer Talk podcast: “I just think it’s a very unusual approach that Raul Sanllehi’s taking unless they know something we don’t, unless the know they’re going to get Aubameyang on a number they’re comfortable with or they know that they’re going to sell [Alexandre] Lacazette or extend Lacazette.
“But we’re going to be in the exact same position with Lacazette very, very soon and that can’t be good for the club.
“The other thing I should say about the three-year [deal], everyone’s reporting it and we don’t know yet, they say it’s a three-year deal for Willian.
“Willian turns 32 on Sunday I believe but do you need to give the guy a three-year deal?
“Might it not make sense to give him a shorter deal plus an option, or whatever.
“It just seems like a massive commitment, we’re talking about a winger here.
“There’s not that many wingers that are still as effective when they start getting to 33, 34, 35.
“So I just think these are all things that I find a little bit unusual.”
Gabriele Marcotti has an opinion, but apparently like the rest of us, he doesn’t know the ins and outs of the deal (he uses a lot of “mights” in his statement).
Time will tell, but hopefully Mikel Arteta has the final say, not Kia Joorabchian.
if you have a team of mostly u23 players like Arsenal
then senior and experience players like Willian and Luiz are neccesarry
they bring their experience, knowledge and winning mentality to the club, educate and influence the younger players.
What the media and fans know is to keep spending big and keep signing as many players….. to the extends as a big time or multiple flop player can be considered a good signing just because he has a big tag or from a big club.