Willian has admitted that he wanted to leave Arsenal after just three months under Mikel Arteta. The 36-year-old winger, who now plays for Olympiacos in the Greek top-flight, left Chelsea to join the Gunners in August 2020, signing a three-year deal.
He swapped Stamford Bridge for the Emirates Stadium following the expiration of his contract in west London. While Willian featured 25 times for Arsenal in the Premier League in his debut season, scoring one goal and providing five assists, he averaged no more than an hour an appearance.
Despite the Brazilian's best efforts, the north Londoners had disastrous campaign and finished eighth. Meanwhile, Chelsea placed fourth and won the Champions League under Thomas Tuchel.
At the end of the season, Willian reached an agreement with Arsenal to terminate his contract – just 12-months after penning a lucrative deal. Speaking to Rio Ferdinand on his YouTube channel, the Brazilian said: "I wasn’t happy [at Arsenal], I wasn’t happy.
"That’s why I didn’t perform. I don’t want to go into the details. When I arrived there I was happy, from the beginning I was motivated, I wanted to do well – new club, new mates, new project.
"But after three months, I said to my agent: 'Please, I want to go'. I don’t want to speak bad about the club, because it is a big club. Arsenal has a big history. In football, big players played there before as well.
"But it didn’t work, it didn’t work. It was, of course, the most difficult time of my career. It was big money that I gave up. But sometimes money is not the most important thing in life. I think you need to be happy, get pleasure every day waking up in the morning to go to train. I wasn’t having that."
Willian added: "So I said to myself, with my family, I cannot stay here, I am not happy here. I have to leave, find a way out, leave the club, because if I stay I am going to stay the same. For me, it’s unfair to stay in a place that you don’t want to stay just because of the money. For me, it was that."
In a separate interview with Sky Sports last year, as quoted by the Metro, Willian admitted that he regretted leaving Chelsea, rubbing salt into the wounds of Arsenal fans. He said: "Yeah, I wish I’d never left. Of course it’s easy to say now, but when I stop and think about all the situations – I say to myself, “I wish I never left”. But that’s life."
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Chelsea flag prior the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Leg One match between Chelsea FC and Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge. (Photo by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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