I regret leaving Chelsea to join Arsenal – I begged my agent to leave after just three months

Willian has admitted he wants to leave Arsenal after just three months under Mikel Arteta. The 36-year-old winger, who now plays for Olympiacos in the Greek top flight, left Chelsea to join the Gunners in August 2020, signing a three-year contract.

He swapped Stamford Bridge for the Emirates Stadium after his contract in west London expired. While Willian played 25 times for Arsenal in the Premier League in his first season, scoring one goal and providing five assists, he did not play on average more than an hour per appearance.

Despite the Brazilian’s best efforts, the north Londoners endured a disastrous campaign and finished eighth. Meanwhile, Chelsea placed fourth and won the Champions League under Thomas Tuchel.

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At the end of the season, Willian reached an agreement with Arsenal to terminate his contract – just 12 months after signing a lucrative deal. Speaking to Rio Ferdinand on his YouTube channel, the Brazilian said: “I wasn’t happy (at Arsenal), I wasn’t happy.

“That’s why I didn’t play. I don’t want to go into details. When I got there I was happy, from the start I was motivated, I wanted to do well – new club, new friends, new project.

“But after three months I said to my agent: ‘Please, I want to go’. I don’t want to say bad things about the club, because it’s a big club. Arsenal have a great history In football, great players have also played there before.

“But it didn’t work, it didn’t work. It was of course the most difficult period of my career. I gave up a lot of money. But sometimes money is not the most important thing in life. I think you have to be happy, have fun every day when you wake up in the morning to go to training, I didn’t have that.

Willian added: “So I said to myself, with my family, I can’t stay here, I’m not happy here. I have to leave, find a way out, leave the club, because if I stay, I’m going to stay the same. “For me, it’s unfair to stay in a place where you don’t want to stay just because of the money. “

In a separate interview with Sky Sports last year, as cited by Metro, Willian admitted he regretted leaving Chelsea, rubbing salt in the wounds of Arsenal fans. He said: “Yes, I wish I had never left. Of course, it’s easy to say now, but when I stop and think about all the situations, I say to myself: ‘I wish never leave.’ But that’s life.”