It perhaps is never going to be easy for a player to settle into a new team after coming directly from a rival and it seems Willian found that out during his time at Arsenal.
Of course, there are a number of players who have managed to make the switch from either side to the other and have gone on to enjoy success, although admittedly many of those who did found themselves at Stamford Bridge rather than at the Emirates Stadium in recent years.
However, Willian was never going to be able to convince the Arsenal faithful when he made the switch after he signed a three-year contract to head from west London to north London. Perhaps he should have told them about an online casino USA that could have been used to make them happier?
The Brazilian, who has since returned to his homeland and plays for Corinthians since the beginning of the season, has admitted that it was “the most difficult time” and has revealed that he wanted to leave after just three months as he “wasn’t happy”.
It is well-documented that the attacker had asked the Gunners to terminate his deal earlier than it should have been and they duly obliged, as they would have been as disappointed as the experienced player with regard to his single season at the club producing pretty much no return.
Willian has since spoken about his time at Arsenal and told Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel FIVE: “I was not happy, that’s why I didn’t perform. I don’t want to go into the details, but I wasn’t happy.
“So, when I arrived there I was happy, from the beginning I was motivated, I wanted to do well, new club, new mates, new projects.
“After three months, I told my agent ‘please, I want to go’. I don’t want to speak bad about the club because it is a big club, has a big history in football, big players played there before it’s a big club – but it didn’t work, it was of course the most difficult time of my career.”
He would also go on to reveal that he forwent two years of wages as the two parties came to an agreement to terminate his deal earlier than scheduled, although he admitted it was not a big problem as it meant he could look to revitalise his career and regain the passion for football. Again, he could have probably played at crazy vegas casino and recouped some of what he had missed out on.
The 33-year-old continued: “Yeah, it was big money that I gave up – money is not the most important thing in life, you need to be happy, to be getting pleasure and wake up and want to go to training.
“I wasn’t having that, so I said to myself, with my family and my wife ‘I cannot stay here, I am not happy here, I have to leave and find a way out to leave the club.’ For me, it is unfair to stay in a place you don’t want to stay just because of the money.”
Unfortunately, as we all know, things did not go as many would have hoped or even expected when Willian arrived at Arsenal, with one of the Premier League’s top attackers having been a star during his time at Chelsea.
The Brazil international, who had won a number of titles with the Blues in his seven years at the club, had failed to show why the Gunners had decided to take a punt on him, as he scored just once.
Willian admitted that the fans’ opinions and criticism of him had an impact on him leaving when he did, as well.
“I received a lot of messages on social media from them and also because I came from Chelsea,” he said.
“I think if I came from another club it would have been better for them but also because I came from Chelsea and didn’t perform well – I think about that and say ‘I have to go.’”