Willian

Former Gunners
#81

People saying he is older and might not work out here should remember, we have bought plenty of players from other leagues for loads of money, who are a lot younger and look great when they’re playing in a different league, then they end up costing us a fortune in transfer fees and wages.

Willian is proven in PL, he is exactly what we need and he will walk into the first team and play at this level straight away.

He is taking a step down to play for us, how many supposed good players do we buy that take a step up and can’t handle it in this league?

1 Like
#82

The years aren’t that informative without knowing the structure of the payment. Remember Koscielny had that dodgy deal where we just paid him less in that last year. It might be alright if it’s something like that.

#83

We have to remember our financial situation whereby we can’t fork out a lump sum for a player right now so we have to go to the free market.

Willian is one of the best free agents right now and it will suit us better to pay him decent wages for 3 years then it would be to lay down money up front for a player.

8 Likes
#84

Hmm, worth me considering perhaps, given my vote.

#85

Yea he’d be our best CAM and at least our second best winger

#86

It depends entirely on the contract. In this case I’d imagine it’s the clubs option to extend another year or not. Some contracts let the player have the option to extend it though if certain clauses are met.

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#87

But the reports suggest it’s Willian pushing for the option, would he do that if it was our choice and not his?

Can you link me to anything about the topic you might have read please? I don’t say that in the sense of challenging you to back up what you’ve said, it’s just that I’m now curious and would like to read more. I can’t imagine it’s likely you have read anything specific about this lol.

Or can you possibly provide any examples of times when the club has had an option that the player is bound by, and a time that a player has had the option and its the club who has to follow?

#88

Yes, he would and even better, he’s been successful in the PL and knows how to win.

1 Like
#89

Right, let’s throw in some orthopedic slippers while we’re at it.

#90

Spurs interested…

#91

Well they did pay for his flight after all

6 Likes
#92

Oh I’ve heard the good word, my brother and I’m enraged right now.

First of all, I have no issue buying players from rivals or clubs we should be rivaling. Juventus do it, Bayern do it and PSG do it. The big difference is that they aren’t buying an old ass one trick pony like Willian. They’re going to a rival and buying their best player and/or a young player with upside.

Yes, Juventus does buy older players but just because they signed Pirlo on a free doesn’t mean we should start sniffing around the exit doors at Chelesa.

And for everyone who says “Oh well Frank wants to keep him around so he must be worth something.” Yeah, sure Frank wants to keep him around but the money people at Chelsea who draw up the contracts don’t think he’s a worthwhile investment at three years…so why the fuck are we sliding into his DMs thinking that we somehow know better when they’ve seen him train day in and day out for the better part of a decade? It’s total nonsense.

Okay, let’s think about what he’d actually bring to the team. I see a lot of people talking about what a great creator he is and how he’d immediately walk into our starting XI. You know all those people who get fed up when Xhaka blows up a counter by taking potshots from 60 yards? Those people are going to fucking love Willian. You know all those people who go nuts when we waste a free kick by shooting into the atmosphere? Those people are going to fucking love Willian? You know those people who want to pull their hair out every time we waste a corner by lofting it over the fucking bar? Those people are going to love Willian.

Does he have gas in the tank for one season? Sure. Does he have gas in the tank for two? Maybe, idk. Sports medicine has come a long way even in the last ten years. Do I want him sucking up a roster spot at money for the next four fucking years??? No more than I want Donald Trump to be the president for the next four years.

Willian is a short term signing, likely on a lot of money, who is going to take up space in the squad and will frustrate the hell out of everyone when he plays. He’s also going to push people down the depth chart who should be getting serious game time next season. And why the fuck after turning in arguably his best performance in an Arsenal shirt would we unsettle Pepe by signing another winger who will expect to start???

Now I’ve always thought Willian was an overrated bum who coasted through a Chelsea team on the back of one or two free kicks that looked good on YouTube, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe he’ll turn into a Pirlo-esque creative midfielder in his old age…and we all better hope so, because he’s going to be here until he’s fucking 85 years old.

And for everyone who says, “Oh, it’s fine, if it doesn’t work out we can sell him.” I’d like to remind you that we are absolutely terrible at selling players. Terrible. Mustafi? Still here. Ozil? Still here. Elneny? Still on the books. We couldn’t offload Jenkinson because of his wages. Who is going to buy a 33 year old scrub like Willian? MLS? Good fucking luck.

If Arteta has looked at all the winger options out there and decided that fucking Willian is the guy to take the team to the next level I guess I have to accept it, but the whole deal raises tons of red flags from the player’s age, to his agent’s involvement, the length of deal, taking up roster spots and the fact that he’s never passed the eye test for me. It just feels like we’ve been taken to the cleaners again. It’s Luiz Mk II, Cedric Mk II, and I’m really not optimistic about it.

5 Likes
#93

But other than that, you like him, yeah?

10 Likes
#94

Yeah, saw him a bit on the Amazon doc from Brazil’s Copa America win. Seems alright, bit religious for my taste but to each their own.

#95

It’s not Zaha. So let’s do it then.

1 Like
#96

:pires2: am I being trolled? Feels like it :mustafi:

#97

From what I understand the norm would be a club having an option of an extra year from a player. IIRC we invoked this with Kosceilny, which is where the entitled fall out stemed from.

I think it was one of Rosicky’s contracts where he automatically extended by a year after he played X amount of games the season before

From a legal perspective a clause can be any agreement. It could be the clubs option to extent by a season but it may be contracted that a player gets a bonus/raise of X amount if the club takes the option.

1 Like
#98

Perhaps so we can play 2 actual wingers and move Auba up top, while benching or selling Laca

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#99

I have to give you a like for the energy that went into that. I appreciate a good rant and that was definitely a good rant.

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#100

This season he’s a 1 in 6 shots goalscorer, so he isn’t wasting loads of shots. His passing percentage is actually decent. His ball retention and build is his strength. His dribbles to dispossed ratio has always been very good.

Your main gripe is the age. He’s here for 3 years. We’ll probably get 2 good years out of that. If we get a good 3rd year we have the option to extend to 4 years

We’ve signed a 2 time PL winner who was a key player in both campaigns.

1 Like