Chelsea legend Willian reveals deep relationship with Hazard
Last Saturday, against Everton, Willian leapfrogged his old friend Fernandinho to reclaim the title as the Brazilian player with most appearances in the Premier League.
The Fulham winger would have celebrated with a goal too, but for a series of saves from Jordan Pickford.
“I had three opportunities, but he was very well,” Willian, who has played 265 matches in the English top flight, scoring 39 goals and adding 39 assists, says.
“I am very happy with this achievement. It’s a very demanding league, you must always be on your top level. Thanks to God, I haven’t dealt with many injuries throughout my career, so it makes me very proud. There are so many Brazilians in the Premier League’s history and at the present, so it’s very gratifying to me.”
The 34-year-old began his Premier League journey with Chelsea in the 2013-14 season, when he appeared 25 times under José Mourinho. After seven years at Stamford Bridge he joined Arsenal and then, after a brief spell with Corinthians in Brazil, returned to London this year.
Beating Fernandinho — formerly of Manchester City — is also meaningful, since they played together for five seasons at Shakhtar Donetsk, in the early 2010s and in the Brazilian team, having played the previous World Cup and winning one Copa América together, in 2019.
“I have enormous respect for everything he achieved here, and he was very loyal every time we played against each other,” Willian says. “To beat his record is something that honours me, since he played a deep role in my life at Donetsk.”
Coming back to London means many reunions for Willian. He is back attending the Cathedral International, an evangelical church run by a Brazilian pastor in West Norwood, at which he has worshipped for five years. He loves walking and having a coffee in Chelsea in the city he and his family love the most.
However, some things have changed from his previous stay in the capital. Babbo, the Italian restaurant in Mayfair he co-owned with the defender David Luiz and Kia Joorabchian, his long-time agent, closed in May. “But we might do some other business in the future, or maybe open it again,” he says.
And properly speaking, Willian is not back home in Chelsea: the couple and their twin daughters are living in a hotel, waiting for their home’s tenants to leave. “That’s a pity, because our house is very handy for Craven Cottage, so I had to rent a new apartment,” he says with a laugh.
Willian’s expression changes when the prospect of visiting Guardiola’s City on Saturday is raised. The tone in his voice becomes serious. “It’s always tough playing there,” he says.
“Theirs is a fierce team. I had good moments at the Etihad, we had a brilliant match when we won the league [at Chelsea] under Antonio Conte, in 2016, when we won 3-1 and I scored. But I also remember a 1-0 defeat there in the following year that was baffling. Conte prevented us from going forward and chasing the ball. He said, ‘Hold back,’ as if to let them play. We got heavily criticised that day, for showing a lack of competitiveness, but they were flying. That was a hard situation.”
Although he respects Guardiola, Willian does not seem to be a huge fan of the positional game, for practical reasons. When requested by Tite, the Brazil head coach, to play in a fixed position on the right at the 2018 World Cup, Willian performed poorly. He tends to produce more goals and assists working close to the box from left to the middle, or in a false-nine role.
“When I arrived, I had this talk with Marco [Silva],” he says. “He wanted me to tell him how I like to play, then I told him I have no problem whatsoever in playing, whether it’s on the right, middle, wherever you want me to play I’ll do my best. Left-footed players love to play on the left flank, but when I arrived at Chelsea, there was [Eden] Hazard, so I had to move to the right side, which I have never needed to work in my spell at Shakhtar Donetsk.
“But I got used to it very well, because at Chelsea we’ve never had fixed positions, like ‘you must be at that spot all the time’. We switched positions a lot, rolling inside, working inbetween defensive lines. Because sometimes when you stick to a certain position, you become an easy prey for the opponent. When you have this freedom of attacking on the holding midfielder’s back, your productivity increases. It gets harder for the opponent, who never knows how you’re going to get the ball.”
