Chelsea winger Willian says that it is an honour to play for the club and insisted that he never considered leaving Stamford Bridge despite being linked with the exit door in the summer transfer window.
The Brazilian was courted by Barcelona and Manchester United during the summer transfer window, but a move failed to materialise before the transfer deadline in August.
Willian, who joined Chelsea from Anzhi Makhachkala in 2013, had a reported fallout with Antonio Conte during the Blues’ disappointing 2017/18 campaign and was the subject of persistent rumours surrounding his future at the club.
However, the 30-year-old decided to opt against forcing his way out of the club and waited for Maurizio Sarri to eventually take over the reins at Stamford Bridge.
The winger, who scored a stunning goal after coming off the bench against Cardiff on Saturday, is in line to be named in the starting eleven against PAOK in the Europa League on Thursday night.
Willian went on to claim that he never considered leaving the club amidst all the rumours that came to light during the summer and insisted that it is an honour to be playing football for a club like Chelsea.
“I am very proud to stay and be a Chelsea player. It is an honour to play for this club. I am very happy at Chelsea”, Willian told the club’s official website.
“My mind was always to play for Chelsea and now with Maurizio Sarri we have a different way to play football, so I just want to enjoy and continue to play for this club.
“The manager wants us to play, everyone can see in the games the difference from last season.
“We play more, we have more possession, we enjoy to have fun with responsibility and we have won five games in a row so we have to continue the same way”, he added.
Chelsea return to the Europa League for the first time since winning the competition back in 2013, when they visit PAOK for their Group L clash on Thursday.
