Honestly I’d say it was one of the better failed transfers in recent times, Willian was absolutely worth a gamble at a time we needed experience and quality and the fact that he just didn’t click or get up to the right level of fitness and then decided to part ways amenably even though he was on high wages was testament to the player.
Id have loved prime Willian at this club, it’s a shame we got him so late in the day
How we framing this decade? 2010-2020? Because I agree yeah there are worse
Free transfer that didn’t work out. He left amicably and hasn’t been disrespectful about the club.
Nowhere near worst signing.
So did you mean he is a contender for worst signing in terms of money over the last 3 years?
I read decade as being 10 years from roughly 2013 to now.
Unpopular take but I don’t think Arteta really found him a position.
Played a few different roles and never looked settled.
Not giving him a free pass though as his body weight certainly fluctuated while he was here.
I actually feel like Areta persevered a little too long trying to include Willian. Although it was at a time when Mikel didn’t really have his team together in regards to personnel.
A fit prime Willian is essentially an ideal wide player for someone like Mikel. He’s a hard worker, earnest, and very intelligent and clean on the ball, effective without being a risk taker.
Unfortunately the Willian we got was a touch past his sell by date
I remember when he tried him up front I think against City. One of the worst things I witnessed under his tenure.
He was absolutely not worth it when you factor in the squad at the time. It made no sense, the contract was too long, he had no real desire to come here beyond wanting to stay in London.
There are guys you pay big money but those are the guys who play the piano, not the scrubs who drive the tour bus. He was shit here and it’s definitely not Arteta’s fault. If anything, he stuck with him for too long.
Honestly man I don’t really know how much you actually followed Chelsea during that era because you have this insanely warped viewed of that period when it comes to Hazard and Willian who were absolutely elite level talents for practically all of their EPL careers.
It’s why guys like Edu and Arteta who know ball and ballers were willing to give him the contract in the first place.
Literally any signing has a risk of not working out, Edu and Willian rectified it in the end we haven’t missed a beat since then
I followed Chelsea. Not as much as Arsenal obviously. My beef with Hazard was that he wasn’t as good as people made him out to be and it was absolutely proven correct with how he crashed and burned at Madrid. That deal was horrible.
Willian for me is a functional player but was ever anything special enough to overpay for in terms of money and contract length. And we overpaid on both fronts. I think even Chelsea supporters were quite happy to see him go and were pretty amused we signed him on that extra contract year. He was never a player I thought much of to begin with going back to when he was at Shakhtar and he played like shit here.
Outside of all his honours he got the Chelsea player of the year twice.
He’s up against some top players in a big era for them.
Hazard was excellent at Chelsea, thank god Ferguson’s pride got the better of him on that transfer.
Was that a fan vote or a player vote?
I appreciate you chiming in but you’re not going to convince me he was ever anything other than a functional player in Chelsea teams that rode some insane luck to the CL, quit on a few different coaches and also had prime Diego Costa.
He isn’t a player I rated.
Well his career stats and teams he represented say different.
You know part of this take is based on your dislike of his politics isn’t it.
Hazard never won the CL with Chelsea? They signed him on the back of their first CL win and he was obviously gone when they won it last.
Absolutely not. I can separate the art from the artist. In this case they both happen to suck. But I think Bolsonaro was extremely popular throughout the Brazil squad. Wouldn’t shock me if any of our three Gabriels supported him at points.
@Bavin Willian was in the team that beat Bayern. I know Hazard wasn’t.
Edit: wow he wasn’t in that team? So his resume is even worse than I thought.
Bit confusing with the way the posts read as to who is being discussed but Willian was not at Chelsea either when they won the CL.
Yeah I could have sworn he was but they must have signed him the same summer. I still think he’s basically a glorified glue guy. It’s why Tite picked him on short notice for the Copa America Brazil won.
They signed him the season after Hazard. And weirdly enough he was actually signed from Anzhi after they decided to sell their entire team.
Same.