Arsenal insider Charles Watts has provided an update on the future of winger Willian at the club.
The Gunners signed the Brazilian winger last summer on a free transfer from Chelsea and he arrived at the Emirates with plenty of expectation that he might be able to take the club to the next level. However, it ended up being a rather flat campaign for the 32-year-old, as he was only able to score one goal and chip in with seven assists in all competitions.
And perhaps as a result of those poor numbers, or the squad needing to be trimmed because of no European football next year, or maybe a combination of the two and more, it seems as if his time at the club is set to come to an end after just one year, with noted journalist Fabrizio Romano claiming that there are a number of clubs interested in him.
Speaking about the situation during a Q&A session on his channel, Watts seemed to indicate that despite the desire from Willian to leave, there didn’t seem to be much movement from clubs potentially wanting to buy him:
“There’s a chance that he might leave, but I haven’t been told that he’s found a club or anything like that. I don’t think Arsenal would stand in his way.
“There’s some players you look at at the moment and think they’re gonna stay because they’re on an awful lot of money and they’re gonna stay. I’m not sure that’s the case for Willian from what the noises coming out are. There is potential for him to leave this summer.
“I think he knows it hasn’t really worked at Arsenal at the moment. He’s got two years left, if he’s going to go, he’s going to have to find a decent club that are offering him and his family a decent place to play football. So I wouldn’t absolutely rule it out.”
TIF Thoughts on Charles Watts’ comments on Willian’s future at Arsenal…
Did Arsenal make a mistake handing Willian such a lucrative contract?
Yes
No
It could certainly be described as Arsenal owning up to a huge mistake on their part should they be seeking to part ways with Willian less than 12 months following his arrival.
If Willian really doesn’t have a future at the club, and it is proving hard for other clubs to come in and take him off Arsenal’s hands, then the onus should really be on them to start trying to make a move happen.
It might mean a little bit of a sacrifice in terms of having to play some of his wages or accepting a lesser transfer fee than they were perhaps initially hoping for, but if he isn’t part of the plans for next year, with the club looking to make as much money as possible this summer in order to fund their rebuild, then they may just have to end up taking what they can.
Because even that would be more beneficial to them than just letting him sit at the club and collect a wage without really contributing much to the team in return.
In other news: ‘I still expect’ – Charles Watts drops transfer claim as £17.2m-rated Arsenal target emerges