Arsenal is closing in on signing Willian from Chelsea on a free transfer as the Blues struggle to agree to his demands.
The Brazilian wants a three-year deal on his next contract and that is something that Chelsea cannot offer him, but Arsenal is willing to do so.
It has now been revealed that Mikel Arteta and no one else is the driving force for the Gunners as they look to complete the transfer.
The Athletic claims that the Spaniard is eager to add Willian to his team so that his young wingers can be helped to develop by the experienced Brazilian.
The Gunners have been monitoring his contract situation for a long time now, but their present push to get him over to the Emirates is because of Arteta’s strong desire to have him in his team.
The Brazilian has been playing at the very highest level with Chelsea for years and Arteta feels that his experience will be valuable to his team.
The report also claims that the second reason why he wants Willian is that the Brazilian will bring a winning mindset to his team after winning two Premier League titles among other trophies at Chelsea.
And this, if true, is exactly why
MA is the right man in charge of
AFC. There are certainly younger,
more expensive wingers out
there like Sanco, Chiesa, Kluivert,
Traore, Dembele, ETC that would
excite the Arsenal faithful if signed
but the Spaniard realizes that the
future at the position may already
be on the roster(Pepe/Mart/Saka/
Nelson) and a veteran mentor like
Willian is desperately needed. Not
to mention the man still has a few
quality years left in his boots to
give the young guns a serious run
for there money.
Like EVERYTHING about this move
Agree with you ACE, what’s not to like about this deal?
1. Successful PL experience
2. Winning mentality
3. Mentor for our youngsters
4. Doesn’t threaten their longterm.
place at our club
5. Free transfer
Don’t understand why ONLY Arteta is pushing for it (reportedly); saves funds for management for other areas while getting a quality player on a free.
If Raul and Edu aren’t on-board (reportedly) it makes me question why not, and are they capable of doing any better than Ivan?
Raul once again is seemingly being led by the nose by agents, and sniffing around Barca for cast offs. Wondering if Raul is the right person to help us get back to the top.
My confidence continues to grow with Arteta, while it wanes with Raul and Edu. Some said I’m too harsh on those 2, but Raul hasn’t impressed and aside from Martinelli what has Edu done?
Arteta’s results and influence are there to see, wish I could boast the same for Raul and Edu.
Credit Raul for Tierney; solid and consistent player. Too early to say about Saliba. Soares hasn’t played enough to honestly rate, same to be said about Mari. He’s still injured, but that is the standard at Arsenal over last few years.
Ceballos seemingly has one foot out the door since he arrived and likely won’t be back.
His agent is Kia who brought many players to our club. Our club is ran by agents. Raul doesn’t get credit for any player.
Kia is Soares agent, Edu and Coutinho. There’s some other agent pulling strings at our club too
That’s a great point you make Jdawg about the influence agents have at our club.
If MA wants Willian, who am I to argue with him?! 🙂
C’mon now Sue, that’s how we do it here on JA! We question, critique, and debase management and the manager.
Many of us know better than them; look at my comments above! I clearly know better, and would do a better job than Raul at 1/10 of his wages.
The job offer must have been lost in the mail, understandable mix up having to go over the pond.
Durand, you know I’d much rather have you than Raul 😀 I think we all would!!
Thanks Sue, at least I wouldn’t let agents influence our dealings as much as Raul.
At 31yrs he is the same age as Auba who can still continue that run of 20+ goals per season. William is a £35-40m player. I for one would love to see 2 top years out of him before his final season.
Alright let’s see, he is 31 and he still can make a change for any team he is playing for. But can we be sure he will be in his best shape if we kept him on the bench for sometime? More important, how much do we need to pay him?
If it’s too much I will suggest going for Coutinho as he is more creative playmaker than Willian.
If Willian joins, does d@ mean Coutinho isn’t coming to Arsenal? Can’t we get them both?
Willian turns 32 in a couple of days. Don’t think it makes sense to offer him a 3 year deal (that’s what he was reportedly holding out for at Chelsea)
Get yourself big hair, sign for Arsenal 😜
As I have said on a number of occasions,our Club should not be manipulated by agents who’s sole purpose is to line their pockets.While Willian was a very fine player and still is very useful, you have to ask yourself why then would Chelsea refuse to meet his requirements.Paying huge salaries for players with little or no resale value is the reason we are in a mess financially.I need only cite Ozil, Mustafi, Sokratis, Kolasinac as examples.It’s not as though we don’t have talented youngsters waiting in the wings.Much as though I admired Willian as a player in his day, he is on the slide and to sign him would be another error of judgement to add to the many we have seen during the past decade.
Willian is indeed a fantastic player, good at dribbles, free kicks, creativity and work rate. He can guide and advise our youngsters and mould them into world class players. What concerns me though is that instead of offering him a straight 3 year deal, AFC should offer him a 2 year deal with a clause having the possibility of extending that by another 12 months. Whatever said and done, Willian’s inclusion in the team would remove some of the goal scoring pressure of Auba.
Is this the kind of rebuild we’re clamouring for, Willian EPL stat is really poor, 37 goals over a period of 7 years, what exactly will he add to our team. Must we sign Chelsea garbages?
I think you should look at the bigger picture of his time at Chelsea
339 appearances
63 goals
62 assists
so thats like a goal contributing every 3 games and vast experience in winning, just look at the guys honors
This is a smart move i feel.
Tbh we have quality youth in Saka, Martinelli, Nelson and AMN who can all play in this position. But the question is, are they ready to compete through 60+ games in all comps to the standard we need?
I dont think they are just yet, great potential but they are all still pups and they need someone who they can learn from over these 3 years. Once his contract is up in 3 years, all of those players will have 3 more years top level experience and should ready by then to really put a mark on this team
You have to cut your cloth accordingly and that’s exactly what Arsenal is doing. Let’s be honest here.. Agents are now potential scouts. Agents are now scouting players. I feel Arsenal is far ahead cause that’s exactly how it is gonna be in few years from now. Sorry this is off topic.