This was not how Willian’s season, or his Chelsea career for that matter was supposed to end. While the veteran winger may yet play for the Blues at least one more time, in Saturday’s Champions League Round of 16 second leg against Bayern Munich, his injury-enforced absence from the two biggest games of the run-in were unfortunate and keenly felt.
Chelsea did manage to beat Wolves without him to secure an all-important fourth place finish, but he was unable to recover in time for the FA Cup final either, and he surely would’ve made a difference there, despite being just a week shy of his 32nd birthday.
Meanwhile, Willian’s contract is set to expire as soon as Chelsea are eliminated from the Champions League (so probably Saturday), and at that point, he might be off to Arsenal or Barcelona or wherever else. Despite some reports of a breakthrough in negotiations over a contract extension, that appears to not be the case (turns out Willian’s agent was indeed correct about that, which I suppose is not surprising).
Kia Joorabchian may be the only person who actually knows what’s going on. Lampard certainly does not, though it sounds like he’s preparing for the inevitable.
“It is his decision. I have not got that answer. I know the situation from the club’s end.
“I have a great relationship with Willian, but I actually do not know what that decision is. And if that happens over the next whatever days, as he said, then that will be good for me either way.
“Of course, I am very happy with Willian as he has been brilliant for me this season with his input and work ethic within the squad. But it is his choice and I respect his choice. He has been a great servant for Chelsea if he decides to move on. And if he does decide to move on, then Chelsea moves on as well, and we have to look forward ourselves.”
-Frank Lampard; source: Telegraph
Looks like we’ll be moving on then.