Willian says contract talks with Chelsea are now off, leaving him free to negotiate with any team as his deal expires this summer.

Willian only has a contract with Chelsea until 2020, and he was in negotiations with the club over an extension as a result. He wanted a new three-year deal, but the Blues only offered two.

As a result, the winger is now running the contract down and he’s free to negotiate with other clubs. He confirmed as much to Fox Sports this week.

“Everyone knows that my contract ends now in a few months, so the renewal is really a difficult thing to happen,” Willian said (via Metro).

“I think it will be very difficult for me to renew because Chelsea offered me two years, I asked for three and it ended there, we don’t talk anymore, we didn’t negotiate anymore.

“Three years…Chelsea said it would be impossible, so, for now, there’s this difficulty, but nothing is impossible. We don’t know what can happen, suddenly we could make a deal and get it right.

“But what I can say today is that my contract is going over and I will be free to negotiate with any team.”

This is all relevant to Arsenal, as one of the clubs reportedly after the winger. They join Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United in the running for the Chelsea man.

Willian scored seven goals and assisted six in 37 appearances this season before the coronavirus lockdown. He’s always a consistent presence in the Chelsea team, playing 55+ games in each of the last two seasons.

Fans at Stamford Bridge might argue that’s the only area he shows consistency though. The goal contributions come and go, and there are plenty of mixed opinions on him out there.

On a free transfer, it’s not a huge risk, but Arsenal won’t want to waste a lot of space on the wage bill if they don’t think he’ll add to the team more often than not.