Mikel Arteta admits that Willian has failed to live up to expectations since joining the club last summer and believes the player suffered during the pandemic playing football in front of empty terraces.
After a glittering, trophy-laden spell at Chelsea, the Brazil international was lured across London by the prospect of a big-money three-year deal. It was hoped he’d bring experience and creativity to Arsenal’s midfield but after months of poor form, he found himself on the fringes of the first team come the turn of the year.
Both parties are keen to part ways but with suitors baulking at the 33-year-old’s wages, the odds are stacked against his circumstances changing before the transfer window closes.
“I think anybody would agree,” said Arteta when ESPN Brasil suggested that Willian had underperformed.
“The illusion that we had when we made the decision together to bring him to the football club, what he wanted to do coming here, it’s not been fulfilled,” he added.
Willian doesn’t just want to sit on his contract and salary at Arsenal, he has made it clear to the club that he is willing to leave if an offer comes in. @ESPNBrasil asked Arteta about his opinion on the situation with the Brazilian. pic.twitter.com/QsQ9L9gXod
— Joao Castelo-Branco (@j_castelobranco) August 13, 2021
“It’s true that as well the context has not been the best for him. It’s been the most difficult year in football history for any football player.
“I think Willian is the type of player that needs to feel happy and feel joy and feel the supporters and then express himself with the qualities that he has. None of that has happened.
“The country as well, he found it a difficult place for him and he’s not been comfortable with that. That’s why I think he’s struggled.”
Asked if the midfielder, who has been capped 70 times by his country, might seal a move in the coming weeks, the boss said: “I don’t know, he’s our player. There’s a chance with any player that anything can happen in this market.
“He’s our player right now and our focus with any player in our team is to make him better and fulfil the potential he has individually to bring it to the collective unit.”
It remains to be seen whether Willian is part of the squad for this evening’s match with Brentford. He missed Sunday’s pre-season clash with Sp*rs – “unavailable” was Arteta’s explanation – and it’s possible that may still be the case.
The annoying thing about this transfer was that we all knew it stunk. Every fan gasped when the rumours came out and then despaired when the wage was leaked.
How can an entire fan base know something is wrong but the people inside the club do not?
That’s a real worry. I hope Edu and Arteta have learnt this lesson for good.
Free transfers are such a false economy. You easily pay the transfer fee in wages and you can’t get rid of them for love nor money.
Just last night I was explaining the exact same thing to someone else i.e. Free transfers…
Did you checkout how a certain club called PSG signed some free players this summer?
Yeah, he got a 25 million euro (?) signing on fee according to the press, and 25 million a year in wages before bonuses.
true of kolasnic and his absurd wages as well (though on a smaller scale), wasn’t the willian deal raul sannelhi and kia joorbachian –the deal that ultimately got him booted?
A Kia player from what I’ve heard, wouldn’t be surprised if more brown bags of money were exchanged. I think Edu is a bigger problem than Arteta. Raul, Kia; if everyone is judged by the company they keep, his company are a bunch of crooks. I don’t care if he was a squad player in the invincible team, I want Edu gone first out of himself Vinai and Arteta. He’s dumb as best, and a shady thief at worst.
It’s true Edu and his bunch of thieves
Kia’s clients
Raul
Edu
Luiz
Willian
Gabriel
Mari
Cedric
Now they want to bring in Neto of Barca as well
So Willian is willing to leave if an offer comes in. Offer comes in (MLS) and Willian stays. Great PR spin from Willy’s team
Let’s be clear. We are going to pay him off. No one will take him off our hands, even on a free, for that money.
But is there a deal to be done where we basically pay a year of his extortionate wages and the MLS / Middle Eastern club pay the other? I hope so.
I recall the opposite at the time. There were a lot of fans who supported this deal and thought that if a three year deal is what it takes to secure this vital player then so be it. Boy have they gone quiet since then.
A one year deal would have been acceptable. Chelsea very generously offered him two and we trumped them with a third.
Well here we are.
This is how I remember it too. He wasn’t a Chelsea reject, they tried to resign him but only on a 2 year deal. We went silly trying to attract him and in hindsight it has probably been the worst deal I can remember. Would he have been better if there were fans in the stadium? Who cares, other players on much less wages performed (Saka, ESR) – with that experience you expect a hell of a lot more.
That means Willian is starting
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no no no no no
Whatever happened to
The boy that I once knew?
The boy who said he’d be true
Oh, no, oh, no
Oh, no, no, no, no, no
Someone should tell Arteta it’s just a weight vest.
Don’t blame it on Edu
Don’t blame it on Kia too
Don’t blame it on what we all knew
Blame it on COVID (and the country where he has been living already for 8 years)
What would you expect from the manager? It’s the most he could say and it’s pretty straightforward.
I just expected him to start laying in to Edu and himself and Willian, just losing his shit basically.
Country as in Brazil is what I read between the lines
The country comment might actually be the most absurd thing Arteta has said. Willian didn’t even have to move house in London to join Arsenal…..
Exactly.
Yep. Even after 8years he’s still struggling to come to terms with living in London!!!! Mikel please don’t keep mugging yourself off! The fans are becoming sick of your bullshit. Emery had an excuse his command of the language was poor. You have no excuse. I think you’ll be gone by Christmas if you don’t hit the ground running.
Blame it on the boogie?
Yawn. Just buy good players, not ones that have been good.
I think Willian is lucky that he wasn’t playing in front of fans
Would have been slaughtered. If he plays poorly in front of fans this season he will get slaughtered and so will Arteta, edu and the club. Could ultimately cost Arteta his job.
Sometimes – and it’s been more often than we would like in recent years – you just make a mistake.
This is the case in this instance. It’s an annoyingly expensive mistake ; and it’s wholly on Edu and Arteta.
But a mistake it is. And I don’t think any amount of ‘explanation’ really assists anyone.
I am sure we would all except a statement along the lines of “in this instance we got it wrong about the player”. Not give a bag of bollocks like “he’s struggled with the country ( he’s only been here 8 years!!) we should have tore up his contract when he pissed off to the Middle East when the whole country was in lockdown. Citing an image rights issue over there. Greedy wanker. I wonder why he wants to be a football agent when he retires!!
The funny part is that it was obvious
The three year deal we gave this donkey was not a mistake.
And with past experience, William might follow suite and try a Ozil , thus being laid off to end his contract while he seeks football elsewhere
Ozil gave his best years to Arsenal, as weird as he is, he’s still one of our own. WIllian is a Chelsea player and only came here to retire..
How can you seriously compare the two. LOL
A Willian on gardening leave until his contract is up is still better than him playing for us. I’d hire a one legged dwarf in his place before I see that cunt in an Arsenal shirt again.
Trust me, he does not want to “feel the fans.”
And the move was always moronic. You don’t give a three-year contract to a 32-year-old when you’re in the middle of a rebuild.
The wages were an insult to injury.
His non-performances have made it into a contender for the worst deal in this club’s long history (Ozil says hi), but it was very much self-inflicted.
I agree, since Özil has left, the team has been much better!
I don’t understand the difficulty country part!
“The country as well, he found it a difficult place for him and he’s not been comfortable with that. That’s why I think he’s struggled.”
lol wut? he’s lived in london for how long?
I can dissect Willian.
Sick of us constantly taking the crumbs off teams we’re supposed to be competing with, esp Chelsea.
Welbeck, Cech, Luiz, Willian and now we want Tammy Abraham..
Oh, and Silvestre 🤣🤣🤣
Agreed. I am sick of Chelsea and Utd cast offs.
If Utd want to sell Donny van der Beek – maybe. Otherwise forget it.
I personally don’t see the problem with Tammy Abraham – he’s 23, tall and a decent striker. He scored a fair few when he was playing under Frank. Plus we don’t have £100m to spend on one player because we are in the middle of a rebuild, unlike Chelsea/City who only need to add quality.
Think @arseblog should be on the advisory board to prevent future shit
Especially the comment sector 😀
I think without fans he got off lightly. The atmosphere would’ve been toxic with our form upto Christmas and Willian stinking up the place.
Let’s not blame the fans all the time! We finished 8th last season and if we didn’t do the Mustafi the Kolasinac the Willian which were daylight obvious maybe we would have finished higher.
I mean can you blame fans that were promised to compete for UCL and adviced to be excited to feel underwhelmed with this Sp**s show?
Unbelievable was Arteta’s explanation…
“the illusion we had to bring him here” Is illusion an correct quote from Arteta? A man who has been fooled by a false idea or belief would use that word. It’s like admitting what you have seen with your own eyes before signing was wrong. I have no problem with people admitting to mistakes. I would rather aplaud it. I think it’s really rare.
It’s a bad translation, that’s all. Ilusión is Spanish for hopes/dreams.
Unfortunately it’s going to be another year of so many players that we need to let go remaining with the club because we were the only club dumb enough to pay them such outrageous wages that we can’t even give them away.
Did Arteta just name living in this country as a reason or did I misread that?
The longer the transfer window goes on the more chance he will lower his wage demands and leave.
He knows he isn’t first choice now.
I feel it is likely he will go to a Brazilian club on lower wages and see out his career, transfer being made on the last day of the transfer window, with no other offers having come in.
Josh Kroenke signed off on it. He is being taken for a ride over and over again. It doesn’t matter if Edu and Garlick are helping him. In the end the buck stops with his poor leadership. Either he gives up being responsible for his ‘franchise’ this side of the pond and stays in USA permanently or he gives up being responsible for his USA franchises and focuses solely on Arsenal. The limbo we are in is indicative of his malaise as a leader. Two things could be at play: 1) he is incompetent at looking after his franchises and… Read more »
Turns up fat to preseason. It should be dismissal for gross misconduct.