Agent hits back at Carragher for ‘talking rubbish’ about Arsenal

Kia Joorabchian has questioned why Sky Sports pay Jamie Carragher to “talk rubbish” after his comments about Willian and Arsenal.

Willian was man of the match on his Premier League debut for Arsenal as they brushed Fulham aside in September but since then he’s only managed one assist in 13 appearances in all competitions.

And speaking on Sky Sports‘ Monday Night Football, Carragher labeled the signings of Willian, David Luiz and Cedric Soares a “joke” while he questioned Joorabchian’s influence at the club.

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Carragher said: “I think Mikel Arteta as a manager, for me, there might be talk about him being under pressure now but the situation he’s in, I wouldn’t even think about Mikel Arteta’s position.

“I really like Mikel Arteta. There’s a lot of nonsense around the club – bringing players, buying players. I think some signings were a joke. In terms of bringing Willian in, [David] Luiz in, Cedric [Soares] in.

“Is Kia Joorabchian making signings at the club?”

Joorabchian, who represents Willian, used a 2018 incident where Carragher spat at a fan to hit back at his comments on Arsenal and his client.

The agent said (via talkSPORT): “First and foremost, I understand Jamie’s job was saved by Gary Neville when he had that very bad incident and I understand he wants to protect this brand by making comments that are not correct.

“I’m very surprised because Jamie is one of the people that monopolises Sky Sports commentary. Sky Sports producers pay a lot of money to him – hundreds of thousands, so I can’t understand why he doesn’t check his facts before he speaks.

“The fact is I had nothing to do with the signing of Willian. If Jamie had bothered to check with Mikel or [technical director] Edu, they would have said Mikel presented three different times to convince Willian to be his number one signing at Arsenal.

“He had an opportunity to stay at Chelsea and to go to two other Premier League clubs. [Inter] Miami made him a very nice offer. Mikel convinced him to stay.

“Furthermore, David Luiz was in the same situation. Mikel spent a lot of time in lockdown to speak to him and persuade him to stay. Gabriel was on the list of at least three other clubs.

“But the main point is – why do Sky pay Jamie Carragher so much money to talk rubbish? Surely he has the contacts through Sky or himself to make a phone call to Edu or even Sky to put a question in through the press department.

“Why make an assumption that is going to create an atmosphere that is very bad throughout the club?”