This news hardly comes as a surprise at this stage but Chelsea have just confirmed that the club has agreed terms to sign Brazilian winger Willian. The transfer will be subject to a work permit hearing on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old has been heavily linked with Andre Villas-Boas’ Tottenham recently as a potential replacement for Gareth Bale, who will soon sign for Real Madrid, but was a long-term target of Chelsea’s and the West London club tried to sign the player from Shahktar Donetsk before he ended up making the move to Anzi Makhachkala. Needless to say the reaction of the Spurs support has been hilarious.
He was in London reportedly having a medical ahead of a move to White Hart Lane before Chelsea finally made their move and according to Jose Mourinho’s words in his press conference the following afternoon it didn’t take Willian long to make up his mind over which of the two London clubs he prefers.
Initially there was some worry amongst the Stamford Bridge faithful that his arrival could push Juan Mata out of the door or even worse, that he may be used in the deal to sign Mourinho’s number one target Wayne Rooney but some of the anxiety was alleviated when the manager said that he has no plans of selling Mata as he wants to add quality to the squad, not lose it.
Chelsea’s statement did not mention a transfer fee or wage but it’s believed that the agreed price would be around £30 million and you can bet he’d be on a significant wage as well. Willian may not be the only arrival from Anzhi this summer as stories circulating today claim that a deal is in place to bring Samuel Eto’o, who would be taking a big pay cut, in case the chase for Rooney fails.
With two players coming in it’s likely that two squad members will be going out. Victor Moses and Demba Ba are probably the most likely to be loaned out whilst there has been doubt over John Obi Mikel’s future for much of the summer.
What can Chelsea fans expect from Willian this season? – Read Here
Source: ChelseaFC.com