Willian says he’s very happy to reunite with old friend David Luiz and hopes the pair can lead Arsenal to great things in their twilight years.
The duo first met when they were eight and have since experienced the highs and lows of domestic and international football alongside each other during their time with Chelsea and the Brazil national team.
“He’s very happy,” Willian told Arsenal Digital. “We played together in the national team, we played together at Chelsea, and now at Arsenal again. I think we can do great things together, I hope so, but I’m very happy to be with him again.
“He said, ‘Come to Arsenal, come to Arsenal, I want you to come!’ So that was the conversation. He is a very nice guy, a top player and I’m very excited to play with him again.
“Of course [he helped in the past], many times. Many times when I had difficult times at Chelsea he was helping me a lot. He is this kind of person that wants to help, especially young players without experience. He is the guy that helps everyone.”
Given his experience, it’s expected that Willian will also play a leadership role in the dressing room when the squad reassembles next week for pre-season training.
Young compatriot Gabriel Martinelli, the third Brazilian at London Colney, is one player in particular who could benefit from the 32-year-old’s presence. Having played against the youngster a couple of times last season, it’s fair to say Willian has been impressed by his compatriot.
“He has a great future I think,” he said. “He can be one of the best players in the Premier League, no doubt.
“It’s because of his quality and also without the ball you can see that he is always trying to help his team and do the job without the ball. So I think he can be one of the best players.
“I think when he starts to play again, I know he is injured now, but when he starts again, it’s about time for him to go to the Brazilian national team.”
Unfortunately, for Gabi – who yesterday won Arsenal’s goal of the season vote for his solo effort against Chelsea – he’ll likely have to wait another five months before sharing a pitch with Willian. The 19-year-old is recovering from an operation on his knee that took place in July.
Good camaraderie, hope in turns into points and wins.
I hope it turns into flamboyant celebrations and samba beats.
We could have that tune from the 1998 Nike advert in the airport instead of Sweet fucking Caroline.
Amen to that.
Who on earth decided that Sweet Caroline should be our stadium victory song? It’s awfully cringy and makes me want to leave the ground doubly quick, as opposed to stay behind and celebrate/applaud the players.
I think we should petition the club for a change.
I’d personally prefer to hear the ‘Somebody’s at the door’ music by Andrew Mangan. Imagine Auba and co doing a lap of honour to that masterpiece…
A bit of Phil Collins, to see blogs lose his shit ?
????
My concern is that we are too focussed on Brazil now.
We would do better if also know the French/German/Swedish/Spanish/UK etc etc up-and-coming players too. I hope losing lots of scouts isn’t going to affect this.
Given our economic situation, maybe we are looking past Europe a little. We’re paying a total of £50m for two young defenders from the French league. But Mari cost us under £10m. Martinelli the same. I’d love for us to be competing for Kai Havertz and Ferran Torres but these players become so sought after so quickly. I think we are in Brazil so much because we have to be sadly. We have become the bridge club between obscurity and a massive European dynasty. I still can’t believe I say this when we have a multi billionaire owner. But there… Read more »
In the immortal words of JamesHetfield: “Sad but True”. 🙂
Gotta love Shed Seven.
True. However, just a small note of caution. You talk about paying out £millions for players but Arteta and chums will have to recoup much of that money through sales. Although there’s increasing speculation about this, to date we’ve not raised a single £ yet. I fear that his plans to re-structure the squad could be curtailed because we can’t balance the books. Arsenal have plenty of players to offload as we know but, so far, nobody is interested in most of them. I wonder why?
I know man. Guendouzi must be questioning his stubbornness round about now. I’m a little surprised. I thought a few clubs might be keen to move fast for the frizzy little sulk. It looks as if Sokratis, Torreira and Laca could well be moving. That’s a bit of cash. But that’s about it. To be honest, it may well come down to someone (Everton) offering us 25m for Nelson or Willock and we kind of have to take it. Which would be sad but understandable. Obviously he who shall not be named isn’t even attempting to flirt with clubs so… Read more »
The market for secondary players will start to move when the top tier gets settled. Lots of rumors, but not much movement yet on that top tier.
I see us moving on from at least 6 players this window. While we all have our favorites, some combination of Laca, Miki, Guen, Torreira, Elneny, AMN, Sokratis, Holding and Kola could all go. Plus a goal keeper perhaps as well.
Wow
They’re more than good friends as they are business partners too. They have an Italian restaurant in Mayfair.
plus two hotels on Park Lane and a get out of jail free card
Martinelli must have been some pretty serious cartilage damage to be out for so long. It’s usually keyhole surgery and a pretty short rehab
Arthoscopic surgery to repair lesions on the cartilage. An occasional effect of the injury, just bad luck. He didn’t have the surgery until June (4months after the injury) as the club were hoping to avoid it. So his layoff was extended by quite a bit.
The shutdown also makes it feel like an eternity!
june or july, heard different accounts!
Apparently the long length of his recovery is actually a good sign.
It likely means they would have been able to surgically repair the lesion as it is in a location with some bloodlfow – which should result in more or less a full recovery. If the lesion occurred in an area without bloodflow they would only have been able to remove any loose bits of cartilage – doesn’t take so long to heal but leaves the knee somewhat unstable going forward :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWcVGWbnOiI&feature=emb_title
It’s great to hear (even if it might just be because they’re mates, or because Willian knows how to sell a good story and win fans over) that Luiz was eager to have Willian join. He’s taken some stick from us, not undeservedly, so to hear him tell his mate “Come to Arsenal” just adds to the “Arteta has us going in the right direction” feel that is already making me a lot happier than I’ve been for quite a few years, football-wise. Welcome on board, and … some awkward wordplay on “brazilian” and scoring a “brace” against the Scum.… Read more »
Let’s hope they have one more Brazilian friend incoming shortly!
Douglas Costa swap for Auba?
Not that I would mind Douglas Costa, he is brilliant, but still a down vote lol
Good – anything that helps him is welcome. As with all players, the only proof is on the pitch and as nobody knows how he’ll do, all we can do is hope all the best for him.
It’s all good.
As long as we don’t meet that German team Bayern Munich any time soon. Arsenal lost 5-1 twice. Brazil lost 7-1. Arsenal Brazil will lose by how many goals?
Is this a maths problem? 35?
That seems probable.
I think it is a bit off there. It should be a number between 2 and 4
Damn, I missed when the Brazil national team played Bayern Munich. Interesting fixture.
Such a shame Gab got hurt, the sooner he is back playing the better
Football friends