Willian Borges, who announced he is leaving Chelsea after his contract expired at the end of the season, is expected to become an Arsenal player by Saturday as the deal gets wrapped up.
The 32-year-old left Stamford Bridge after a seven-year stint at the club, with Chelsea only willing to offer him a two-year deal rather than the player’s desired three years.
Arsenal beat off competition from Barcelona and Inter Miami to move into pole position to sign the Brazilian international by offering a three-year contract last week. They are now on the verge of completing the deal.
The chance of joining Mikel Arteta’s rejuvenated side and the chance to work with fellow Brazilian, Edu, along with the length of the deal, are some of the reasons Arsenal are favourites to secure Willian’s signature
Willian made 47 appearances for Chelsea in all competitions last season, and finished in fine form, with four Premier League goals after the restart taking his tally for the season to nine.
Arsenal and Chelsea, who are local rivals, have surprisingly, in recent years, move players between them despite most rivals very rarely choosing to do business with each other.
Willian made 339 appearances for Chelsea Football club after signing from Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala for £30m in 2013, becoming one of the most popular players at Stamford Bridge in the process.
He has won five major honours with the Blues, including two Premier League titles and the Europa League. He also won the club’s players’ player of the year award twice.
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Ozil to see out his Arsenal contract despite being frozen out of the team
Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil affirms he will stay at the club “through to the last day” of his contract in June 2021.
The German star has not featured for Arsenal since the Premier League resumed in June, with manager Mikel Arteta citing “pure football reasons“.
But Ozil dismissed reports the club was looking to pay up the last year of his £350,000-a-week deal.
“Things have been difficult but I love Arsenal,” he says in an interview. “I’ll decide when I go, not other people.”
“I’ll give everything I have for this club,” Ozil adds. “Situations like these will never break me, they only make me stronger. I showed in the past that I can come back into the team and I will show it again.”
Ozil, who joined from Spanish giants Real Madrid in £42.4m move in 2013, fell out of favour under previous manager Unai Emery before returning to the side under interim boss Freddie Ljungberg.
After Arteta’s appointment in December, Ozil started all 10 of Arsenal’s Premier League games immediately, before the coronavirus pandemic forced a three-month suspension of the Premier League in March, but has not featured in their past 13 matches in all competitions.
Arsenal announced they plan to make 55 staff redundant because of the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic despite Arteta and his first-team players accepting a 12.5% pay cut in April.
Mesut Ozil, however, opted against a pay cut because the players were “rushed” and believes “possibly the decision affected my chances on the pitch“.
Ozil believes he should have been allowed a chance to show what he can do on the pitch, saying: “You don’t play 10 games in a row if you’re unfit, not good enough or don’t behave well” although he respects Arteta’s decision to leave him out.
He added that he was “not the only player who rejected the cut in the end, but only my name came out“.
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