Willian has told media in Brazil he wasn’t happy at Arsenal which makes the feeling mutual.

Arsenal's Brazilian midfielder Willian (L) shakes hands with Arsenal's Spanish first-team manager Mikel Arteta (R) after coming off substituted during the English Premier League football match between Fulham and Arsenal at Craven Cottage in London on September 12, 2020. (Photo by PAUL CHILDS / POOL / AFP)
Arsenal’s Brazilian midfielder Willian (L) shakes hands with Arsenal’s Spanish first-team manager Mikel Arteta (R) after coming off substituted during the English Premier League football match between Fulham and Arsenal at Craven Cottage in London on September 12, 2020. (Photo by PAUL CHILDS / POOL / AFP)

On the face of it, signing Willian on a free wasn’t a bad idea. He arrived in peak physical condition with extensive Premier League experience winning trophies and the knowledge that Chelsea had wanted to keep him for another two years.

Few of us expected him to stink up the place the way he did, but, for whatever reason, there was no tune to be found in Willian’s repertoire at Arsenal and, with every appearance, he seemed to get worse as fans got more angry.

Who could be happy in the midst of that?

“I really thought a lot, together with my family and close people. Unfortunately, my time at Arsenal was not good, I wasn’t happy at the club”, Willian said.

“I don’t need to go into details, but I wasn’t happy and I thought that returning to Brazil was the best option. I studied some other opportunities, but I wanted to return to Corinthians, to my home, to be close to my family. It’s the club that projected me to the world, revealed me. The right time to come back was this.”

Arsenal and Willian came to an agreement that saw his contract torn up and the 33-year-old allowed to leave for free.

Willian signed for Corinthians immediately upon his release.