Arsenal have confirmed the signing of Brazilian international, Willian, on a free transfer with the ex-Chelsea winger putting pen to paper on a 3-year contract ahead of the 2020/2021 Premier league season.
The 32 year old winger left cross city rivals, Chelsea, after a stellar 7 years with the club in which he scored 63 goals and registered a further 56 assists in 339 appearances, also winning two premier league titles, an FA cup and the Europa league.
After completing his switch from the blue to the red side of London, a lot of people have been wondering, where exactly does he fit into this Arsenal side?, what exactly would a 32 year old add to Mikel Arteta’s style of play? The answer is right here.
Having enjoyed one of his most productive seasons in England in the just concluded campaign, scoring nine goals and recording seven assists in the Premier League, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the only Arsenal player with more goal involvements than Willian who is consistently demonstrating how talented and skillful he is, it is clear that the Brazilian is still at the peak of his game.
After Mikel Arteta took charge of the club, results and performances improved to some extent but the team in a number of matches still showed signs of lacking creativity especially against opponents that keep low blocks and this is one of the places where Willian comes in.
The Gunners ranked 16th in chances created over the course of the league with Nicolas Pepe leading the club’s stat with 40 chances created.
Meanwhile Willian alone created 77 chances in the same period, a number only bettered by six players in the division. The new Arsenal man will hence add a ton of creativity to the attacking line that’s already exciting and can be very clinical when given the opportunity.
Willian is a very versatile player who has the ability to play in both flanks, even centrally as an attacking midfielder, this leaves Arteta with loads of options while managing injuries, fatigue, and should he want to make an attacking switch.
Arteta can choose to move Aubameyang up front with Willian on the left and Pepe on the right, further more he can bring in Lacazette to play centrally with Willian directly behind, Aubameyang and Pepe manning the flanks, this promises to be a near unstoppable attacking force.
The Brazilian will also bring along with him a wealth of experience to the Arsenal dressing room having won several trophies in Chelsea including two premier league titles in the last five years, as many as Arsenal has won in the last 2 decades.
He will also ease the pressure on Arsenal’s youngsters who can as well learn a lot from him while not blocking opportunities for them in the longer term.
Settling down and adapting won’t be an issue of any sort to Willian as he has lived in London for the past seven years while playing for Chelsea plus he’s joining up with former team mate and fellow Brazilian David luiz and Gabriel Martinelli
So what are Arsenal getting on a free? – A proven premier league player who can play in at least 3 different attacking positions and with the ability to perform at a world class level, then you add in Willian’s leadership and experience in the league and it seems to be a smart business for the London club.
