‘I wasn’t happy at the club’: Willian opens up on Arsenal exit

Willian has opened up on his exit from Arsenal, claimed that he “wasn’t happy” during his time at the club.

The Brazil international was picked up by the Gunners on a free transfer from Chelsea last summer.

He signed a three-year contract with the north Londoners, worth a reported £220,000 per week.

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However, his move did not work out as he notched just one goal in 37 appearances in all competitions.

This prompted Arsenal to discuss a mutual termination of his contract with the player.

And he returned to Brazil after an arrangement was struck, joining Corinthians, where he began his career.

“We have reached a mutual agreement with Willian to terminate his contract effective from today,” read a club statement.

And the 33-year-old has opened up on his time at the Emirates, plus his exit:

“I really thought a lot, together with my family and close people. Unfortunately, my time at Arsenal was not good, I wasn’t happy at the club,” he told TV Corinthians (via the Daily Mail).

“I don’t need to go into details, but I wasn’t happy and I thought that returning to Brazil was the best option.

“I studied some other opportunities, but I wanted to return to Corinthians, to my home, to be close to my family. It’s the club that projected me to the world, revealed me. The right time to come back was this.”

His departure ended an eight-year stay in England, where he won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and the Europa League with Chelsea.

He made over 330 appearances for the Blues in all competitions, recording 63 goals and 62 assists.

Elsewhere, rumours that Arsenal have a ‘pre-agreement’ for Antonio Conte to take over from Mikel Arteta are “not true”, according to Fabrizio Romano.

Arteta is already coming under intense pressure this season after they got off to an awful start to their Premier League campaign.

Romano wrote on Twitter: “There’s absolutely no pre-agreement between Antonio Conte and Arsenal. Conte has no verbal/pre agreement with any club and he’s free. #AFC Federico Pastorello – agent close to Conte since years – confirms to @Freddie_Paxton: ‘Rumours about Arsenal pre-deal are not true’.”