The Gunners’ former player who flopped, expresses a great deal of remorse for his decision to join Arsenal
Willian, a former Arsenal player, expressed remorse over his decision to join the north London club. Prior to joining Arsenal in the summer of 2020 on a free transfer, the Brazilian had enjoyed seven successful seasons at Chelsea.
He left Chelsea for Arsenal after being offered a two-year contract by the Blues, while Arsenal had offered him a three-year deal.
However, his stint at Arsenal was not successful, and he departed the club after just 12 months in the summer of 2021 to sign for Corinthians in Brazil.
During an interview with Sky Sports, Willian admitted that he regretted leaving Chelsea for Arsenal and wished he had never done so.
“Of course, it’s easy to say something now, but when I stop to think about the whole situation then yeah, I say to myself I wish I’d never left.
“But it’s life. I’m happy now at Fulham – enjoying myself there, so this is life.”
On his unsuccessful spell at Arsenal, the 34-year-old added: “They are flying now.
“I don’t know, I think I came while it was changing a lot.
“I was excited when I signed with them, I was training hard but it just didn’t work.”
According to a previous interview, Willian expressed that he was unhappy during his time at Arsenal and had a desire to leave the club after just three months of being there.
“I wasn’t happy, I wasn’t happy. That’s why I didn’t perform. I don’t want to go into the details,” Willian told Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel Five in 2021.
“When I arrived there I was happy, from the beginning I was motivated, I wanted to do well – new club, new mates, new project.
“But after three months, I said to my agent: ‘Please, I want to go’. I don’t want to speak bad about the club, because it is a big club. Arsenal has a big history.
“In football, big players played there before as well. But it didn’t work, it didn’t work. It was, of course, the most difficult time of my career.
🗣️ “I want to become an agent.”
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) March 11, 2023
Willian reveals his plans for life when he retires from playing professional football pic.twitter.com/AzLAN5ylac
“It was big money that I gave up. But sometimes money is not the most important thing in life. I think you need to be happy, get pleasure every day waking up in the morning to go to train. I wasn’t having that.
“So I said to myself, with my family, I cannot stay here, I am not happy here. I have to leave, find a way out, leave the club, because if I stay I am going to stay the same. For me, it’s unfair to stay in a place that you don’t want to stay just because of the money. For me, it was that.”
