Published
on February 3, 2023
Former Chelsea star, Willian has reacted to the report that the west London club hijacked Mykhailo Mudryk from Arsenal.
Willian also said that his old club have secured a good player in 115 million pound Enzo Fernandez and added that Mudryk threw up memories of his own move to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea spent over £250million in the winter transfer window which culminated with the Premier League record signing of Fernandez for £115m from Portuguese giants, Benfica on deadline day.
Fernandez is in line to play his first game for Chelsea against Fulham, Willian’s new club side, on Friday night, and the Brazilian is a fan of the World Cup winner.
The Brazilian was asked about the Argentine’s club-record move to Chelsea, and the former Chelsea winger told The Times: “I saw some highlights [during the] World Cup – he looks good!”
Reacting to the nature of Mudryk signing by Chesea, Willian said he sees some similarities with the way he (Willian) was hijacked from Tottenham by the Blues in 2013.
Willian had been flown to London by Tottenham who thought they had a deal fully agreed before Chelsea swooped.
“I can see it’s different but Chelsea is Chelsea,” the 34-year-old told reporters ahead of Chelsea’s clash with Fulham on Friday.
“I was supposed to go to Tottenham. I was in London almost three weeks, waiting, waiting, waiting. And the day that I went to sign my contract with Tottenham, Chelsea came in.
“My agent said, ‘Chelsea have called and want you there, what do we do now?’ I said I wanted to go to Chelsea.”
Willian joined Shakhtar Donetsk from Brazilian side Corinthians in August 2007 for a fee of €14million and spent six years at the club. In 2013, he briefly signed for Anzhi Makhachkala before joining Chelsea for £30million. He won the Premier League and League Cup in his second season at Stamford Bridge.
