It’s been ten years since Willian left Russian side Anzhi to sign for Chelsea, but many people still remember he could have landed somewhere else.
Back then, the English media was pretty sure the Brazilian would be moving to Tottenham Hotspur, who were the club who brought him to London and were only waiting for the medicals to complete the signing.
It turns out that most of that story is true, according to Willian himself. The 34-year-old was interviewed by website Premier League Brasil, and was asked about all the media gossip from that time.
The winger recalled all the details from those negotiations, revealing that he’d fallen in love with Chelsea quite some time before that.
“That’s why my song from Chelsea fans exists. The story is as follows: when I was at Shakhtar, the first club that made an offer for me was Chelsea, in 2011. Since then I started to follow the club, I saw Drogba, Terry, I went crazy for the Blues and decided that I wanted to play for Chelsea. It became a dream. They made three offers and Shakhtar didn’t accept them. The Ukrainians even said: ‘If they reach that amount, we’ll let you go’. Chelsea did and nothing, that was complicated,” Willian told Premier League Brasil.
“Soon after, Shakhtar were in the same group as Chelsea in the Champions League, and I went to play against them. I scored two goals at Stamford Bridge and we lost 3-2, with a goal in stoppage time. And after the game I got a shirt from a Chelsea fan with my name on the back and a question mark on the back. It was really cool, I still have that photo on my phone, even though I never saw the fan again.
“Then, when 2013 arrived, I couldn’t stand being in Ukraine anymore, but Chelsea had given up. I am very grateful to the Ukrainians, but I wanted a change of scenery because I had been there for five years. And, at the time, Anzhi, from Russia, was the only club that was willing to pay my termination fee, which was €35m euros.
“So I decided to go to Russia in January 2013 — I signed a four-year contract, I thought the club’s project was cool, I played with Eto’o, we were runners-up in the Russian Cup. But in the middle of the year the owner had a health problem, he decided that he’d stop investing and sell the players. And then my negotiations with the English began again.”
“I went to London and Liverpool and Tottenham were interested. I was negotiating with both, not Chelsea. And in my heart the dream was to go to Chelsea.
“Proposals came from both of them and, as I wanted to stay in London, I decided that I’d go to Tottenham. It was all agreed, I had already done medical tests, all that was left was to go to Tottenham’s training centre to sign the contract. But I still had an insecurity, my mind was elsewhere. I was going there with Chelsea in mind. Then, 45 minutes into the second half, Chelsea made an offer. And I didn’t think twice. It was something I really wanted, with all due respect to Tottenham, who are also a great club, but my dream was to play for Chelsea.”
Many times in the interview, Willian spoke about his love for London, claiming he’d like to continue leaving there. It turns out he ended up spending most of his career in the English capital, playing for Chelsea, Arsenal and now Fulham, but was apparently not given another chance to join Tottenham since that opportunity collapsed.
