Friday, November 22, 2024

Arteta: We’re going to keep trying with Willian

Mikel Arteta insists summer signing Willian is improving despite the Brazilian being outshone by Arsenal’s youngsters yet again.

Selected to start the Gunners FA Cup 3rd round tie with Newcastle in the number 10 role, the 32-year-old produced another distinctly underwhelming performance before being replaced by Bukayo Saka on 66 minutes.

Willian is yet to score for Arsenal since joining on a free transfer and has only one assist in the last three months.

“I think he was improving and improving,” said Arteta when asked about the player’s form in his post-game press conference.

“The other day he came on really well against West Brom. He’s been out as well because he was ill, so he’s missed almost two weeks of training and football.

“Today was the first time that he started the game. He had some good moments and he had some other moments that he needed more help sometimes, and some decisions weren’t the best. But we’re going to keep trying with him.

“He shows in training how much he wants it, he had some highlights in the game and it’s about keeping the confidence in him. We know the player he is.”

He added: “I think when the team is winning it’s easier [to keep his confidence up] because there is more time to do that process.

“He needs to build the relationship with some players. Today he played in a slightly different position as well. We’ll get there.”

Arteta and Edu signed off on a three-year deal for Willian which sees him earn £220,000 a week. He was supposed to bring experience, leadership and quality to a side hoping to close the gap on the top four. He’s not ticked any of those boxes so far.

Related articles

Comments

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

179 Comments
oldest
newest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Goonerrific

So we can’t return him under warranty then? 😕

Takeshita

I don’t think even if there is one, Arteta would let him go. He is loving Willian unconditionally. And for someone who joined recently & is utter pants week in week out Arteta is ready to give him more opportunities. In that context what is the chance of him being Arteta’s secret lovechild??? 🙁

TOGooner

Arteta must be regretting that steamy trip to Brazil he took as a 5 year old.

Johnny 4 Hats

The weird thing is – Willian is not a bad player. Silvestre was. Squillaci was. Cygan was. But Willian isn’t. His career proves that. I still believe that, even though he’s not in any way the sensation we all hoped he would be, Willian has a role to play in this squad. If he finds some form, he’s a really good guy to come on for the last 20 mins. It can’t be just physical with Willian because he’s misplacing passes and sloppily controlling the ball. This is a good sign. If he ran like Andy Carroll I’d be genuinely… Read more »

Twatsloch

Since he was a solid played for Chelsea the ability must be there. I guess the question is then about motivation.

I guess “We’re going to keep trying with Willian” translates to “how about it, Willian, fancy making an effort for the 250k a week today by any chance? No? OK, not a problem. Let us know when you feel like it. And by the way, you’re starting again today.”.

Heavenly Chapecoense

Willian was part of the starting XI, Brazil vs Belgium in WC 2018. This means he was once top notch. He doesn’t have to play in a bad form though. Real Madrid fans probably want their money back for Hazard but the man was a serial killer in the Premier League.

MrT

Mesut Ozil was in the team who won the World Cup 2014…

GraeB

Mustafa was top Germany CB when we bought him!

Pat Fried Rice with Egg

Mustafa is a lion.

Biggles

True, Willian was much better at Chelsea (as was Gallas – Chelsea are getting good at this) but it’s our club’s money (and quite a lot of it) that he’s being paid and we haven’t got anything like the return that could be expected. Although some fans can “forget about him”, as you are going to, unfortunately the club’s balance sheet can’t and given we’ve just become only the second PL club so far I think to get a Covid bailout loan, the reported £7 million a season for Willian can’t be dismissed lightly in my opinion. Like you, I… Read more »

Johnny 4 Hats

So essentially we’ve paid £20m for Willian. Ok, not ideal. Especially given his form. But you can understand the thinking a little. If you get a season and a half of fairly good football it’s well worth it.

We can bemoan the money but we can do that with plenty of our underperformers. Even Auba hasn’t warranted his pay rise. I’m just a bit bored of being surprised that Willian isn’t awesome and, like Sok and Mustafi and Ozil, he can just sit out for the time being.

Daveo

Right now I’m not even sure we’ll get a game and a half of fairly good football out of him.

Johnny 4 Hats

Diego Forlan is one of United’s biggest flops. Yet he’s still remembered with great affection for the two goals he scored at Anfield in an important 2-1 win.

Not all players work. Pepe cost us almost four times as much as Willian, and that’s without his wages. But they could just change a game or two along the way.

If Willian scores the winner against Sp*rs to get us Champs League football, we’ll sing his name for a decade after.

santi's thigh grab

IF. Unlikely scenario given his current form but stranger things have happened.

martinhaze

It’s like Arshavin. He ultimately didn’t have a great career at Arsenal — but he did score 4 in one game against Liverpool, and scored the winner against Barca. So he’ll always have affection from fans.

Pea14

Pepe dun bagged the transfer fees. So thats out of the equation. And William is on a higher wage bill than Pepe.
Just really hoping William is not taking the Ozil train

santi's thigh grab

This was never a good deal from the beginning. Chelsea’s refusal to give a 3 year deal should have been a warning sign that most people would have observed and avoided the player. But not our guy Raul, no sir. Arteta made a mistake, the sooner he acknowledges it the better the fans will feel about Arteta.

GraeB

Less concerned about trying him than giving him 3 year contract. That seemed to be his main gripe with Chelski so perhaps he just viewed it as his retirement party.

Daveo

Lucky we fucked them over with girou… Oh wait bad example.

santi's thigh grab

I like this approach, less bitching. But if he doesn’t improve, surely the only times he can get on the field is when the contest has been decided. If I understand the manager, if we are winning, there are opportunities to play.

GraeB

Pascal Cygan, the unloved Invincible, – signed as a teenage Frenchman in a fanfare of praise but not really worth it. Doesn’t that sound familiar?

Name*

Arteta doesn’t know anything about love then. If you love something, let it go.

TUMANG

Try not to lynched by Arteta fans.

Qwaliteee

No we can’t, but when fans are allowed to return, they can take the roof off the Emirates with booing every time the useless Chelsea pillock touches the ball.

Giuseppe Hovno

Feckin hell some eejeets are already planning to boo players when they get back in the stadium….utter chumps

AJH

Wouldn’t worry, he doesn’t go to games.

El Mintero

So true – never been near highbury or Emirates in his life…

Qwaliteee

You’ve proof of this, have you?

I’ve been a season ticket holder since 1984.

What were you doing then? Listening to Duran Duran on your Dad’s stereo? Or had you actually even been born then?

A Different George

I am not interested in this feud, but I have to say the Duran Duran comment is pretty funny.

Beef

If he was putting these performances in in a full Emirates he’d have been roundly and deservedly booed several times already.

Qwaliteee

So what do you think we should do to express our ‘gratitude’ – throw a ticker tape parade…?

We’re Arsenal supporters, not Arsenal cheerleaders.

Luther

You’re obviously not a true supporter.

Qwaliteee

Really?

Try a season ticket holder since 1984. True enough for you?

Let me verify that for you. Real football fans who attend real football matches get pissed off all the time – for far more of the game than the rare moments that they express their approval (a good passage of play, a good chance, a goal, etc)

If you attended football matches, you’d understand this. Clearly you don’t understand – so I’d think twice if I were you about determining who are true supporters or not.

Futsboller

Ergo, true supporters are jerks. Makes sense now. I wonder if this statement qualifies me as a true supporter? I am excited.

Luther

Anyone with money can buy and retain a season ticket – I know of people who have season tickets at clubs they don’t even support. Piers Morgan has had a season ticket at Arsenal for at least as long as you have, I presume, but he’s still a bloody awful supporter. You have been scathing of fans who were toxic towards Arsene Wenger – costing us the title in 2016 in the process – and I am completely with you on that one. But you’re just as bad as them if you’re going to “take the roof off the Emirates”… Read more »

Qwaliteee

Look mate, I give my support where it’s deserved.

Blind devotion to paid professionals who just aren’t putting in the effort – and Willian clearly isn’t – is not my idea of ‘support.’

Good players deserve support.
Bad players need to be moved on – not have their ego massaged their mediocrity.

Pea14

Its ok not to show your love.
But its definitely not alright to share your hate.
Its because ‘fans’ like you created the Xhaka incident.
And I’m by no mean a fan of him anyway

Qwaliteee

*for

Luther

It definitely isn’t clear that Willian isn’t putting in the effort – he could just be low on confidence (partly because of fans like you) – so don’t state your opinion as though it’s a fact. No one is asking you to show blind devotion. Just don’t create a toxic atmosphere in the stadium that hurts our team’s chances of winning; create an atmosphere that intimidates the opposition players and freezes them instead. Imagine we reach the Europa League final, it goes to penalties, and three of our penalties are taken by Willian, Xhaka, and Mustafi – would you not… Read more »

A P

Did you support Xhaka when he told the fans to fuck off? He was still wearing the jersey then.

Luther

Yeah I did. The fans were in the wrong there; not Xhaka. I only wish Eboue had reacted like that back in 2008, and who knows, maybe the fans would have behaved themselves since. Wrong example you chose there. Given what I think is the point you’re trying to make, a better question would have been about supporting him when he got sent off against Burnley. I was angry at him for that, and he was not worthy of support in that moment. Once the red card came out, he was no longer able to affect the game, so fans… Read more »

Fezec

Having a season ticket has nothing to do with being a supporter. No does longevity of fandom. There’s plenty of ardent arsenal fans who have never even set foot in London. The clue is in the name. Supporter. We’re there to lift the team when they’re down. To make an intimidating atmosphere for visiting teams. What do you think the toxic atmosphere at the arsenal has done for our and opposing players performances over the years? You are within your rights to “support” the club however you wish. But I fell in love with arsenal sitting on the crush bars… Read more »

Luther

Well said! Anyone who doesn’t get it after reading that, will never get it.

santi's thigh grab

I wonder if that would happen. The supporters in the stadium are a lot more tolerant than Arsenal twitter. Hopefully he moves on after this season if he doesn’t come good.

Eternal Titi Berg Pat Nostalgia

I used to view Willian as a top top player a few year ago to be honest.

No foot Norbert

My chelsea ‘mate’ couldn’t wait to see the back of him. I didn’t think he would be good for us especially on those wages at the time so I asked and he was really happy he was going. At first I thought he’d acting a bit too happy he might be salty but he was convinced Willian was playing for a contract last season and it seems he was correct 🤢

Swerve

Arteta needs to be careful he doesn’t fall on Willian’s sword.

Qwaliteee

I couldn’t care less if he did.

Biggles

Very good.

MSPgoon

This. I genuinely think Arsenal wouldn’t have had a crisis at all if Arteta hadn’t been so persistent with (and hadn’t signed!) Willian. The performances undoubtedly would have been better. And Arteta wouldn’t have shown rank hypocrisy in favoring one old, out-of-form player who disobeyed team rules (Dubai), while claiming red lines for everyone else.

atom

I’m by no means a Willian fan – just awful signing – but one player wasn’t the cause of all off our problems. The system Arteta used during the cup run really only works against a handful of teams & in reality it requires us to convert at crazy ratios of goals to shots. Other teams figured the system out & that we tried to funnel all of our attacks down the left hand side – cut that out and we had zero attacking threat. That really was only solved when as a result of injuries/desperation we moved Saka to… Read more »

Naked Cygan

Arteta needs to send Willian to see a sports psychologist. There is clearly something wrong with him. He was a really good player at chelsea and now he is totally and uterly sh*it. He is totally a different player and somhow a switch has been flick inside him. We need to flick that switch back. Sometimes when players have major personal problems in their private life it messes with them on the pitch. He needs help!!!

Daveo

He’s suffering From ORDENS* disease. Mesut suffers from the same affliction.

ORDENS – Old Rich Done Enough Now Shite.

Laca New Bendtner

How old is Zlatan then? Or Cristiano?

santi's thigh grab

The pandemic has caused a lot of people to suffer from anxiety, depression and general disengagement. I think at this point we can only play Willian when the game has been won or lost, essentially no meaningful game time with the game on the line because he’s no help. Bad signing.

Burley Dave

Agreed. On the basis he pays for it

MattB

That might well be how this marriage of convenience began

MrT

Dont worry Arteta is a ‘ Genius ‘ he would talk himself out of this one too…

EddyF

Is Arteta watching the same player as the rest of us?

He does know that Willian is the Brazilian with the Afro, not the young English blonde kid right?

Bob Holdy

When I put on my tinfoil hat, I think that there is some clause or something related to his contract guaranteeing a certain amount of minutes. Otherwise to this headline statement i say
Nooooooooooooooooooooooio

atom

When we were talking about signing Willian, all the reports were always about what a great trainer he was and how he closely followed coaches’ orders- 2 traits that Arteta seems to put an undue amount of emphasis on. That said whether planned or if he just fell into the current line-up out of desperation/luck as injuries forced him to play youth – the team is so much better with Saka on the right & ESR in the #10 role that there really isn’t a starting spot for Willian anymore. I hope we send him off to the middle east… Read more »

santi's thigh grab

I’d like to keep Pepe.

Atom

I like him as well but clearly Arteta doesn’t

Jac

AMN is a useful squad player

Goo-nerd

Arteta needs to stop patronizing us, we have eyes. If he keeps trying to bullsh*t us the fans will slowly but surely turn on him too.

Viva La Prof

So being shit at football isn’t a footballing reason to omit a player from this squad?

Qwaliteee

One lousy assist in three fucking months.

And yet people continue to slag off Ozil and back this manager for choosing Willian ahead of him.

Julio Baptista's humble alter ego

Agree with you.. surely on the basis of performances over the past few months, Willian should be dropped from the squad the way Ozil and Sok were, otherwise to me it just looks like a personal grudge.

My personal opinion is Ozil would have contributed far more than Willian past few months, even if people think Ozil is past his prime.

Hank Scorpio

You can’t mention his name here. I heard he eats puppies. Pure evil.

Chinaman

Not when the alternate is Ozil

MrT

Favouritism exists at any establishment & sports…. But our ‘ genius ‘ manager is showing it full throttle to all fans

Duno

Arrgggggh!

rayafc

Can’t we introduce a 6 month probationary period into contracts, that what they do in my company.

Alex

This is actually genius. If only!

El Mintero

I agree – there should be some reasonable performance-based rules built into contracts that allow teams to end contracts if a player is just not able to perform to the level he was originally given the deal for… For instance, if a player is just not good enough to be selected to start a certain number of games in a season due to performance decline then a club should have the chance to renegotiate that contract going forward or reach a mutually agreed exit with the player. Why not? Same as in any other business…just think how much better off… Read more »

A Different George

And if you were a player, why would you agree to such an offer? They can do it in your company (though I am certain they don’t do it with the top brass) because you don’t have anyone else desperate for you to work for them.

atom

While it would be great for clubs, players will never agree to a salary cap or non-guaranteed contracts en masse. Why would they?

santi's thigh grab

Depends on the market. If all the clubs began including such clauses it might work but there would always be breakaway clubs that wouldn’t do it to give them a competitive signing edge. Business is too competitive.

A P

What’s to stop a club from playing the player one game short during this probation to save on wages for the rest of the contract?

Cyprus The Immortal Gooner

“We’re going to keep trying with Willian” so as not to admit the flop that he has been since he signed…

Gary

Spot on , why not give Reiss Nelson the minutes this fellow is getting he can’t be any worse and at least we’ll get a transfer fee if he doesn’t make the grade after a run of 10-12 games just like we got for iwobi.

santi's thigh grab

Arteta doesn’t rate Reiss. And to be fair, when given opportunities Reiss hasn’t produced. I’d be ok with a loan or even a sale this summer, depending upon the price. Probably a loan makes more sense to build his value and keep his progression moving forward. Other than training, this year has been a waste for him.

Qwaliteee

LEGO Speak for Beginners.

Biggles

There’s a scene in an episode of the great TV comedy Fawlty Towers when Basil Fawlty, under great pressure with some disaster in his hotel, asks himself if it’s all just a dream. He bangs his head several times on the reception desk, looks up and says “No, it’s not – so I guess we’re stuck with it.” MA is too short to play Basil, but …

TeeCee

It’s either that or leave a loaded revolver on Edu’s desk.

Baichung Bhutia

I actually hope he improves (a lot) and does well. Otherwise we are going to have him do Twitter commentary for 3 years.

MrT

Fans like you deserve it… forgetting the special memories ‘ Mesut ‘ has left.

Granit(e) hard!

220k a week for thiiiiiis?..jeez

Walter White

Is he seriously earning that much? What on earth….. Though it was 150k at most

Hank Scorpio

Sign on fee included makes it 220k

arseteta86

*facepalm*

Public Elneny Number One

In my best Darth Vader voice…..
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Qwaliteee

I always thought that was Luke Skywalker’s yell of anguish….?

Lettra

My regret in life is to never have found anyone who loves me even just for a day as Dr Erkut Sogut loves Özil and Arteta loves Willian.

georgekorda

The Turkish bloke insured the livelihood of his family for the next 4 generations by negotiating that contract for his client. What love?
Arteta and Willian – more like it.
And this looks especially bad due to certain decisions which had been made on “footballing reasons”.

DaDude

And mind you, the family probably consists of 217 people.

Domi

Dr. loves his money…

Twatsloch

Used as a sub in games we’re winning, FA Cup games playing third division no hopers and as a starter in EL against the Dynamo Shitlovs of the world to rest our good players is about the most we’ll get from him. It’s either that or garden leave ala Özil.

Fucking waste of the club’s money either way! Edu can get fucked for signing him on a three year contract.

Hank Scorpio

Don’t forget Arteta was absolutely gagging for a bit of Willian. By the sounds of it we’ll get to see a lot more of him.

Twatsloch

Most of us were happy to have him, me included, but not on a three year contract.

Des Lynam

I suppose he can’t really say…”Oh my God what the fuck have I signed? The linesman was running faster than him!”

Lettra

id love if the Kroenkes sent down someone who could hold a course in asset management and Key performance indicators for when to cut your losses. Example a certain persons Performance clearly shows we should dump them and cut our losses then do so.

Okester

Haven’t read the article yet- just the headline. My initial thoughts though are “NOOOOOOOO!!!!”

Luton Gooner

What do people really expect Arteta to say here? That was poor from Willian and we regret signing him??

That will go down terribly with the player and the squad – and the media would be loving life.

Actions speak louder than words, so let’s see the squad to face Crystal Palace and hope Willian isn’t starting.

Tucker

Spot on, don’t have an issue with Arteta supporting the player, unless we’d prefer a Mourinho style approach of throwing them under the bus.

What I absolutely would have an issue with is if Willian continues to start ahead of far more deserving others

Carlos

Just don’t talk about him?
Everytime I hear his name I get angst nowadays.

Qwaliteee

You can hope all you want – but he’ll be in the squad all the same.

Just me

You’re right Arteta probably would not say Willian is crap but imagine if for once, just once we had some honesty

Alex

Yes maybe he should try that for once. The fans won’t disagree and Willian can chew on it until the next game. My bosses don’t hold back

MrT

Why not…. Just the way he came out and said ‘ I have failed with ….. ‘ ‘ I have tried ‘

ClockEndRider

Translation- “We don’t want to play the youth as it will kill Willian”.
Arteta clearly spent too much time around Wenger.

Martin

You mean the Arsene Wenger who played more youngsters than any other manager in our history

Francesc

This guy is a disgrace of a professional. It’s just not possible that he plays this bad if he is fully committed.. clearly he (and that Raul guy ofcourse) conned us big time.. now dont get started on that ‘its us who gave him that contract’ non sense. If this guy has any integrity and moral values he will up his game or fuck off from this club!!

MrT

You got it wrong pal… it was Edu & Arteta

Carlos
David C

For now we are stuck with him so no point throwing him under the bus. Good management by Arteta and it looks like he’s not in the starting 11 for league games already. I blame Edu and board for this signing more than Arteta even if Arteta wanted the player.

PersonFace

Sounds like he’s being sincere. Uh oh.

Damobot

Do players like Saka, ESR and Martineli also have the right to discard Arsenal to better clubs because of how shit the club is at the moment?

Georgeycharles

I wonder if Mikel might lend me those rose tinted specticles of his…. they’d be really useful at the moment.

Qwaliteee

An utter disgrace to this football club – both the player, his lethargic dire performances and this manager’s utter idiocy in persisting with him, in spite of those performances.

Pathetic.

MrT

Trust the process…

Heisenbird

This is the sort of thing that makes me question Arteta. What is he seeing in William that we aren’t? All I see is a player who won it all with Chelsea and now doesn’t give a fuck. He just seems happy to pick up his grotesque pay packet. He needs to be dropped asap. He’s garbage.

Hank Scorpio

Pure ego. Willian could and will likely play 100 shit games. If he plays well in the 101st game Arteta will feel vindicated.

Just me

Yet another over priced player and contract with very little to show for it. Will the Gunners never learn. Just look at Ozil now Aubameyang and of course Willian.

Biggles

Whatever happens about his performance, we’re stuck with him I fear. He’s on a long-term contract (the article says three years, but several other reports have said four) on a huge salary so what can the club do? We don’t have the money to buy him out and there’s no re-sale value even if he wanted to leave (and why would he given his financial position currently?) because of his age and, until now at least, his performance level. If you were a club, would you buy him? I doubt it.

SB Still

Arteta would do well to file the Willian signing under ‘experience gained in transfers’ and move on. Sometimes, there is no point in trying to correct a terrible mistake – mainly the salary and the non-home grown squad spot.

Biggles

If push comes to shove, he’ll have to as there is no alternative. We either play Willian or not, but we pay him either way as long as he’s available to play. However, basically writing off a contract worth many £millions to “experience” is fine – if it was MA’s money, but it isn’t. We are a (very) cash-strapped club now so a reported £7 million a year for three or even four years …? That is a really dismal prospect.

Javoroncov

Training this training that how much he wants this how much he wants that. This novice manager should stop the favoritism shits and focus on devising a plan B without ESR or Saka. They couldnt save his ass forever, and at their age they shouldnt either.

Robh

I would love if we could potentially move him and Pepe on in the summer and target someone like CHO.
The problems with this are that both players are at the valley of their careers and value and Chelsea usually only let us have players well into their decline.

Qwaliteee

Nothing wrong with Pepe, mate.

He’s just needed decent players like Saka and ESR to be playing alongside him regularly. Top players need players on the same wavelength as themselves.

That’s why Ozil clearly became frustrated with the departures of Rosicky, Cazorla, Alexis, Wilshere and Ramsey. Their quality wasn’t replaced.

Instead, he had to put up with Xhaka, Elneny, Guendouzi and Ceballos.

Cobwebs

Willian is only just out of the academy, so it is far to soon to judge. We have to give a kid like him a bit of game time to see whether they really have what it takes. In 5 years time he may turn out to be a world beater. We must be patient.

Doey

I think that’s what really bugs me – that feedback from Arteta is what he says about Reiss Nelson, or Joe Willock. He doesn’t start them, he doesn’t pay them £250k/wk.

Fatgooner

Often, when you make a horrible mistake, it’s very hard to admit you’ve got it wrong. Arteta put his faith in Willian and has been badly let down. It’s time to cut our losses and move on. Willian looks tired and uninterested and should be loaned or sold.

If Arteta wants to keep Willian around then he must keep him away from the big games: the priority is winning matches not saving face. It’s obvious that we have better options than the Brazilian.

If Arteta wants to keep his job then he should swallow his pride.

Luther

That’s probably the best point you have ever made – owning mistakes and swallowing pride – and very applicable to supporters who hounded out Arsene Wenger and have turned us into a mid-table side.
Well done buddy!

Fatgooner

It was NOT a mistake getting rid of Wenger: he was finished at least 5 years before he finally went. We were mediocre and outside the top four when he was booted out. The club’s huge mistake was not going for Klopp when he became available. We needed and still need a world-class manager.

Luther

I see you’re refusing to take your own advice.
Even on Wenger’s worst day, we were better than what we are now. Just because he missed out on the top four twice – in 22 years – doesn’t mean he couldn’t have got us back into the top four had he stayed. Unai Emery, a far inferior manager, nearly did it – I can’t imagine Wenger’s Arsenal dropping five points at home to Palace and Brighton in the run-in.

A P

Nah, the mistake was asses like you wanted AW at all costs, even celebrating that we need years out of the CL if that meant AW would leave.

Billy bob

Deluded!!! This joker needs to be shipped back to the chavs where his lack of skill set belongs!!!

Alex

This wouldn’t be tenable without the pandemic. If a player is getting booed with every touch by his own fans, you have to give him a break.

The fans are always right, even when they’re wrong (if you know what I mean)

Luther

Any excuse to keep Ozil out of the squad.

Alex

Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhh

Thierry Bergkamp (non negotiable)

Only other choice is to dump him from the squad like Mesut, and have nearly 600k per week not participating in games.

John

Can’t really believe we almost got another huge salary, no real benefits contract when the Ozil one is almost over!

Dead wood on huge salary is worst that over paying the transfer fees for some younger players. They can be sold at a loss at the very least!

Medium Mozart

At least Arteta is acknowledging there is a problem with the guy.

He seems to struggle so much even with basic stuff, they probably make him keep his training bib on in the canteen.

Geefive

He’s past it. If they can afford to sit a 350k a week player, when Ozil leaves, I suggest the same gets applied for Willian. At least we’d be sitting a 100k less. And let’s get back to that over 30 rule Wenger used to follow…

Charles MMM

Honestly speaking, anytime I see him on the match day list, my heart sinks and I get pissed off (with the mood getting worst if we lose the match). He got “sick’ and we had a good run of results. He started last game and we were heading to a stealmate until he was finally taken off and the change and impact was both obvious and immediate for all to see. If Arteta insists on starting him in subsequent matches, then I will have to believe that there’s a clause in his contract that says so and Edu have to… Read more »

SarcasmB0t

We can all see that he’s improving, players need time to adapt to a new league and a new city, but have to persist with these youngsters!

Developing players need game time!

The worst thing we could do is bench him for some useless 25-year-old.

Mikel knows!!!

Big Dave

To quote Mandy Rice-Davies … “He would say that, wouldn’t he?”

Rich

Heads should roll. KSE are out of their tiny little minds if they’re considering letting these two loose with anymore money. Arsene was spot on with only 1yr extensions for over 30s Making people earn their supper, focuses minds. Offering a 32yr old Willian a 3 year deal, goes beyond negligence, our key decision makers seem to know little about human nature Most men have hunters instincts, it’s why we spend so much time chasing a football, or watching other people chase a football Lacazette looks like he’s on a hunt for a new deal, I’d be inclined to sell… Read more »

NZGooner

What is Arteta seeing that absolutely no one else is? Playing minutes wasted that would be better given to a Hale End graduate.

SarcasmB0t

He’s seeing the possible repercussions for okaying a deal this self-evidently bad.

Cobwebs

I don’t see how we can get rid of Willian, apart from exposure of criminal wrongdoing in the contract. Be worth a few quid to a private investigator to see what can be unearthed.

Allegedly etc

Aleksander Włodarz

Many had big hopes for this signing…. me included. Unfortunately I’m wrong most of the time. Sorry…

Snc

Arsene Wenger will never allow such a crazy deal for someone who is 32 year old. Cant believe we offeree 3 years contract for him. Ridiculous.

DialSquareGoon

Sunk Cost Fallacy is a strong drug.

Cranky Colin

I’m off to a mates restaurant in Dubai

Share article

Featured on NewsNow

Support Arseblog

Latest posts

Latest Arsecast

179
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x