Willian Bid Turned Down By Shakhtar Donetsk - Mircea Lucescu

It seems that Chelsea really are interested in Willian! The Blues have, according to Shakhtar Donetsk manager Mircea Lucescu, put in a significant bid for the Brazilian winger only to be denied:

Breaking: 34m euros offer for Willian from Chelsea turned down by Shakhtar! Lucescu: "It's below his level, he's not going for that money!"

— Emanuel Roşu (@Emishor) July 17, 2012

€34M?! That might be legitimately crazy. I don't have any reason to believe that Mr. Rosu's not trustworthy -- he appears to be a legitimate journalist with Sport.ro in Romania, and he's quoting from a direct source. He does, however, bring into doubt the credibility of his direct source in a later tweet. Regardless, Willian's not a £27M player, especially considering Chelsea's current options on the flanks. Also worth noting, the club have confirmed in the past that Willian has a release clause in his contract of €35 million, which would only be fractionally higher than the "rejected" bid. Maybe I'm underrating him. I know Steve likes him more than I do. But Shakhtar turning that amount of money down for a player who's more 'pretty good' than elite is well, kind of weird.

So, what are our other options? It's entirely plausible that Shakhtar simply don't want to sell and are making up imaginary bids then rejecting them in a public attempt to discourage any serious pursuit of their winger (perhaps encouraging him to sign a long-term contract in the process). I think this is far more likely than Chelsea offering absurd money for him, but everything's possible, I suppose. I guess we'll find out in the coming weeks if we really do rate Willian that highly.