We're not in for him. It's Arsenal.
Willian - worth a punt?
- Thread starter The Purley King
- Start date
We're not in for him. It's Arsenal.
Willian is versatile, can play CM or RW. This season majority matches I watched him dictating the midifield from center with free roaming. A very good versatile midifield sqad option to provide depth in terms of number, quality and experience.
Ah, I thought he is ready to move to a better team.
If we get Willian, it would appear to me to be a regression in our recruitment - in that we will go back to not having a coherent policy which we seem to have under Ole. It would just prove that no one has learned the lesson from last seven years, after all. No one in their 30s should ideally be coming here. This is not a nice pastureland where the old war horses come to live out their days in peace. We are not that Club - I very well hope so.
I agree that he'd be a better option for next season - the problem is two years from now he'll be an albatross almost certainly in his age 34 season. Let alone his age 35 season if the rumours about Arsenal including an option for a 4th year are true...
Mate I cannot even begin to imagine the injury catastrophe that would have to hit before I'd consider playing Willian as a central midfielder.
Absolutely not.
He will go to anyone who offers a 3 year contract, and hopefully we have learnt enough lessons by now that we won’t even entertain such a proposal.
He will go to anyone who offers a 3 year contract, and hopefully we have learnt enough lessons by now that we won’t even entertain such a proposal.
Pepe will be better next season - he’s had a good restart performance
I think James has a lot of potential but needs to play every week to develop the parts of his game that need refining. So a short term deal that allows us to send him out on loan might be a decent idea.
But Willian is about to turn 32 and will want a big wage and probably a 3 contract so I'd be happy to let Arsenal have this one.
But Willian is about to turn 32 and will want a big wage and probably a 3 contract so I'd be happy to let Arsenal have this one.
2+1 year contract like his mate Matic?
I still don't get it though. If we sign Sancho our RW is probably the most stacked part of our front line with both Greenwood and Sancho good enough to start.
I do think there is room for a quick left footed option in the attack though. Probably someone to come off the bench and stretch the pitch.
Sancho
Definitely not. We ain't skint like Arsenal or Spurs.
Maybe Spurs are the other un named club that Ornstein hints about
How is Willian still 31? Surely that's impossible. He was 31 three years ago!
I’d take him as a squad option in all honesty. Still a good player. Arsenal bound though.
If he's a squad option I'd do it. Sancho first then Willian as the creative/AM back up. Would mean we could spend the rest of our money on centre half/def mid rather than Grealish perhaps.
Turns 32 in 5 days
No brainer if he is happy being a squad player. If we manage to sell Lingard, Mata, Periera we could end up with 20/25 mill towards the transfer budget and a better squad player
I have no idea why anyone wouldnt want him. Yes he's old and hes not world class but we are talking about a squad player not a first teamer. And we are talking about a player on a free not 30 mill. Is he better than Lingard, Mata, Periera? Yes. Then replace him with them. Job done. Who else is a better squad option than him without spending 30-50 mill that we dont have.
I have no idea why anyone wouldnt want him. Yes he's old and hes not world class but we are talking about a squad player not a first teamer. And we are talking about a player on a free not 30 mill. Is he better than Lingard, Mata, Periera? Yes. Then replace him with them. Job done. Who else is a better squad option than him without spending 30-50 mill that we dont have.
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Yeah I would happily take him in that kind of role but think the wages and age would be major stumbling blocks
We need to focus on getting players in their prime more than players that are coming off of it.
Liverpool and City aren't as bombarded with young players as they seem and they infact have players in their prime at 26-30.
We dont have much in comparison and Willian is not worth it to make a difference in addressing that.
Liverpool and City aren't as bombarded with young players as they seem and they infact have players in their prime at 26-30.
We dont have much in comparison and Willian is not worth it to make a difference in addressing that.
If it was for a year for around 150k or less then by all means yes since he still seems fit. But isn’t he asking for 200-250k for 3 years? It’s a no brainer that. Hell fecking no.
3 year deal worth 100k + wages per week and ofcourse there will be a sign-on bonus. Not really worth it.
IF we sign Sancho, and that's a huge IF, he will obviously be our first choice RW. Yes, we have Greenwood but he's not really a RW and I see him more as a striker and I think he'll get a lot more minutes at No9 next season. Even with both, I would hardly call that good depth for a hugely important role in the way we play. As much as I like Greenwood and see his potential, one injury to Sancho and we're back to being horribly unbalanced again.
He's turning 32. We finally have gotten an identity back, well thought out long-term signings brought in at a good age, with a decent pathway for young homegrown players to stake a claim by not bloating the squad with older signings.
This would be such a bad signing. Especially with Sancho coming. Wants a long contract and his best quality over the years has been workrate and stamina, traits most likely to be on the wane at his age.
This would be such a bad signing. Especially with Sancho coming. Wants a long contract and his best quality over the years has been workrate and stamina, traits most likely to be on the wane at his age.
Honestly I never get this line of argument. After the restart Greenwood has shown he is absolutely comfortable on the wing as he would be down the middle. Performing brilliantly on the right wing when handed the role. He is simply a true bonafide multi role player. People also seem to overlook that he is absolutely two footed, so doesn't suffer on the flanks like the likes of Rashford/Martial do because he can comfortably go on the outside of any fullback on either flank and still produce the same level of cross. It literally makes no sense to desire to add an additional right winger to the squad and claim to be wanting more game minutes for a Greenwood in the same breath. Yet he can comfortably cover both flanks and push Martial and Ighalo for a starting berth.
That isn't true at all. Post lock down Greenwood literally solved our right wing conundrum completely. Adding sancho will simply gives us two proper right flank attackers in our squad.
If Arsenal are in for him, he's not good enough for us.
The dealbreaker is that he wants a 3 year contract. He is 32 already, so no sane team will give him that much, thats why he is between an MLS team and Arsenal who are broke as feck.
If he was asking for a 1 year contract Im sure at least 5 top teams would be interested.
If he was asking for a 1 year contract Im sure at least 5 top teams would be interested.
He's the type of player who if he were already at my club I'd happily have him sign a one year extension, but bringing him in on a three year contract at the age of 32 is not for me.
You should post this in the weird feelings of football thread.
Can’t believe anyone is seriously considering this, luckily no one with serious influence at the club will be.
Just another Antonio Valencia to me
He's the type of player who if he were already at my club I'd happily have him sign a one year extension, but bringing him in on a three year contract at the age of 32 is not for me.
Yeah even Chelsea were willing to offer 2 years to him after turning 30, which we never did for Terry, Drogba, or Lampard. Frankly I'm pleased to see the back of him; history suggests he gets very sulky when restricted to a part-time role.
Greenwood has done well but there's a world of difference between playing him RW and playing someone like Sancho RW - people need to start assessing our games by looking at us as a whole team on and off the ball. Offensively he's been excellent against generally weaker teams (not knocking him because a goal is a goal) but the games he's not really done well in recently: Palace, So'ton, Spurs are the ones where you absolutely have to have a proper winger in our system because Greenwood's problem on the RW is he doesn't add width & he leaves AWB massively exposed defensively. Being two footed is irrelevant when you're talking about positional ability - Rashford offers more width on the LW and he is very one footed because he's been working at that role for ages and against teams that sit back we have to have players who stay wide.
Essentially I think we all agree Greenwood will be a top player but for me there's a huge difference when you're talking about a specialist RW like Sancho or Willian because of the positional knowledge/experience he simply doesn't have. The fact he might lose a few minutes in a role which I don't think will be where he ends up is inconsequential to the success of the team.
It must be weird reading posts from United fans wanting him here contracted until 2023. I'd much rather listen to the appraisals of Chelsea fans on this matter and I'm yet to hear from a single one who would give Willian a three year deal.
Erm wait.
Nooooooooo, you can't take Willian from us!!!!!!! If you give him 250k per week that's a huge bargain!
And to be clear I'm far from an expert, and if I were to see a well-reasoned argument as to why he'd be worth signing on a three year deal I'd read it with interest. There's just nothing I've seen or heard that convinces me he'd be a key man for a team with high aspirations in the next few seasons.
And to be clear I'm far from an expert, and if I were to see a well-reasoned argument as to why he'd be worth signing on a three year deal I'd read it with interest. There's just nothing I've seen or heard that convinces me he'd be a key man for a team with high aspirations in the next few seasons.
Totally agree. Paying him top wages for his age 34/35 season seems insane.