Willian: Page 8 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Willian

Klaus

The choice is not actually between a Brentford player and a 32 year old Willian though.

Claudius

what is the choice?

Klaus

About fivehundred different players who are on the market, give or take a few. It's not a binary pick between two piles of shit.

goon

You think he’s that bad?

I’ve never been a fan of his but personally I think it’s clear to see what he’d add, and he’d do it without costing the Earth and allow is to focus on more pressing matters. Even someone average like Benrahma you’re talking about £30m+ transfer fee and a salary that isn’t too far off.

Qwiss

Signing Willian will be like signing Mhki. Only older.

Klaus

That's exactly it, Qwiss.

I don't think he's useless, but I think he's well pointless. All our other forwards and attacking midfielders combined scored less league goals than Aubameyang did this season, and we're going to add a 32 year old bloke who almost never nets outside penalties and the early rounds of the FA Cup? I can think of at least three young players I'd rather give those minutes to in the current squad.

We're at a point where we either back the youth or we add genuine quality. What we don't need is in-between transfers that leave us stuck with unattractive old players on big wages for the next 3-4 years. It's so typical Arsenal to not commit to doing either thing properly.

Claudius

Klaus wrote:
About fivehundred different players who are on the market, give or take a few. It's not a binary pick between two piles of shit.

I can sit here and Wishlist tons of players who aren't Willian. Hell, wide forward wasn't even one of the positions I had though we would be looking at. But I'm also a realist. Covid-19 has smacked us upside the head and we aren't in the Champions League, so we are going to see changes that deviate significantly from wish lists.

goon

Qwiss! wrote:
Signing Willian will be like signing Mhki. Only older.

To be honest I think we’ve missed Mkhi at times this season. Willian is a more consistent performer though. He’s a 5-7/10 performer every game. Mkhi is a 2-7/10 sort of guy.

Qwiss

Don't agree at all with that 5-7 thing, the guy goes missing for months at a time. I think a decent post covid spell has people thinking he's something he's not. Add to that we are talking about a 32 year old and I just don't see how people think this is a good move.

Kel Varnsen

I've always liked Willian. Great player at times. Not sure what he's like these days though.

goon

Qwiss! wrote:
Don't agree at all with that 5-7 thing, the guy goes missing for months at a time. I think a decent post covid spell has people thinking he's something he's not. Add to that we are talking about a 32 year old and I just don't see how people think this is a good move.

Him going missing and shying away from responsibility has been my main criticism of him because he has terrific ability and often uses it for the bare minimum. But at his worst he's still a functioning player in the team who does the basics effortlessly. Contrast that with Mkhi who'll range from world class passing ability to messing up a square 5 yard pass min to min within any given game.

Gazza M

He's like rosicky in that he's an accelerator of the game, moves the ball quickly, or carries it forward quickly, but his input won't really show up on the stat sheet.

Until we get big revenue rolling again, i think there will be 1-2 deals in each window where we cut corners. Thats what ceballos was last summer, a shrewd cheap deal aimed at targeting a problem area.

The chronology is important to perception as well. If we do a deal for willian, but then sign gabriel, partey, extend auba, people won't be as miffed as they are now

HomeSteak

100k is better, still not on board with this.

QuincyAbeyie

Expected more, this isn't that bad.

Gazza M

100k for 2 years would've been decent. Seems like he's taken a pay cut to get that 3rd year when he'll probably be useless

TambourineMan

Am sure Roma will take him on a subsidised loan deal in year three if needed. In all seriousness though, that's a decent wage and not as bad as I thought it would be.

Gunner89

100k is what Welbeck was being paid.

Not bad at all.

Mirth

Gazza M wrote:
100k for 2 years would've been decent. Seems like he's taken a pay cut to get that 3rd year when he'll probably be useless

Pretty much, £100k for 2 years would be a good deal.

KingslandBarge

I say we convert him into a fullback like Pool did with Milner

FEBravo

This means it would have been 15 M to sign him outright, without talking about wages. So while I'm not a big fan of this signing, it's a very shrewd move by us financially.

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