Arsenal struggling to offload star on huge contract
Arsenal are struggling to offload Willian this summer with his wage demands too high for other clubs to be able to strike a deal enticing enough lure him away from his current lucrative contract.
Willian joined Arsenal as a free agent from London rivals Chelsea last summer after the Blues couldn’t justify offering the winger a contract extension any longer than one year.
The Brazilian fell out of favour at Arsenal last season after struggling to hit any sort of form, falling down the pecking order behind Emile Smith-Rowe and Martin Odegaard who has returned to Real Madrid following his loan expiration.
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Willian has reportedly been keen on a return to Stamford Bridge, but Cheslea haven’t shown any interest in bringing him back to the club with the front runners for his signature at home in the MLS.
David Beckham’s Inter Miami are supposedly big fans of Willian’s, but it has been reported by The Sun that any potential deal could have just collapsed with The Herons unwilling to meet his wage demands.
Willian has reportedly been holding out for around £167,000 per week in order to make the move out to the US, but with the ‘Designated Player’ wage cap rules it is highly unlikely Miami could complete the transfer.
The 32-year-old is currently Arsenal’s second highest paid player with his weekly wage rumoured to be around £220,000 for the Gunners and only captain Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang earning more money.
Mikel Arteta is trying to change things up at the Emirates with the manager looking to offload a lot of deadwood this summer and bring in new talent to improve on a disappointing season.
Arsenal are likely to let go of long standing players Hector Bellerin and Granit Xhaka with both looking to move on to a different project.
Xhaka has already expressed his interest in joining up with Jose Mourinho at Roma with the Switzerland international not denying the rumours when asked in an interview at Euro 2020 whilst in Rome.
He said: “Arsenal know what I want to do… it is very beautiful here [in Rome].”
