Willian has revealed that he turned down the possibility to be a part of Liverpool in 2013 as a result of he needed to play for a membership in London, whereas he additionally rejected Tottenham simply minutes away from signing a contract as a result of it was his ‘dream’ to affix Chelsea.
At 34, Willian is having fun with a profession resurgence with Fulham, having seen an earlier spell at Arsenal not work out as hoped after which returned to Brazil to affix Corinthians.
However the veteran winger, who has made his everlasting dwelling in London, may have simply had a really completely different profession had he been ready to affix Liverpool a decade in the past as an alternative.
Willian first arrived in Europe as a youngster when he was scouted by Shakhtar Donetsk method again in 2007. He performed greater than 220 video games for the membership and received 10 home and European trophies. However curiosity from Chelsea specifically surfaced as early as 2011 and Shakhtar blocked a switch.
The Sao Paulo native wound up becoming a member of short-lived Russian powerhouse Anzhi Makachkala alongside Samuel Eto’o, earlier than that experiment blew up and he was made accessible on the market.
“I went to London,” Willian instructed PL Brasil. “Liverpool and Tottenham confirmed curiosity. I used to be negotiating with each [but] not Chelsea. And in my coronary heart the dream was to go to Chelsea.
“Proposals got here from each [Liverpool and Tottenham] and, as I needed to remain in London, I made a decision that I might go to Tottenham. It was alright, I had already carried out medical assessments, all that was left was to go to Tottenham’s coaching floor to signal the contract.”
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Willian admitted that he was going to signal for Tottenham nonetheless ‘with Chelsea in thoughts’. So when a suggestion from Stamford Bridge lastly got here by means of on the eleventh hour, he backed out of the Spurs deal.
“Chelsea made a suggestion and I did not suppose twice,” he recalled. “It was one thing I actually needed, with all due respect to Tottenham, which can be an incredible membership, however my dream was to play for Chelsea.
“Once I was at Shakhtar, the primary membership that made a suggestion for me was Chelsea…in 2011. I began to observe the membership, I noticed [Didier] Drogba, [John] Terry, went loopy for the Blues and determined that needed to play for Chelsea. It turned a dream.”
Willian defined that Shakhtar rejected three separate Chelsea gives, even hinting the Ukrainian membership reneged on a promise to let him go for a specific amount.
He later went on to attain twice for Shakhtar at Stamford Bridge in a Champions League recreation, however Chelsea had ‘given up’ by the point he was decided to depart Donetsk for a brand new problem, with solely Anzhi ready to fulfill a €35m launch clause.
“I believed the membership’s mission was cool,” he mentioned. “I performed with Eto’o, we had been runners-up within the Russian Cup. However in the midst of [2013] the proprietor of the workforce had a well being downside, determined that he would cease investing and promote the gamers. After which my negotiations with English golf equipment started.”
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