Chelsea midfielder Willian is the subject of a shock £50 million move from the Chinese Super League team Guangzhou Evergrande.
In a season that has been nothing short of disastrous, the one bright spark in the Chelsea camp has been Willian. While the rest of the team went through a bad phase for at least one half of the season, Willian has been in good form, and has eleven goals and six assists so far in this campaign.
His performances have not gone unnoticed, even as far as Asia where Luis Felipe Scolari is trying to make a move for the Brazilian with an audacious bid, according to the Daily Mirror. If Guangzhou do indeed intend to shell out 50 million for Willian, it would be very hard for Chelsea to resist such an offer, especially since it would mean they would make a good profit on the 30 million they paid to secure his services.
This won’t be the first player that Scolari would have bought from one of the top leagues for the Chinese team, having already signed Paulinho from Spurs and Jackson Martinez from Atletico Madrid.
Is Willian in Conte’s plans?
For Willian, such an offer would present a dilemma, especially if Guangzhou double his wages as is being reported. Moving to China would be somewhat of a career suicide but to say no to such astronomical wages would be foolish as well.
Incoming Chelsea manager Antonio Conte will likely chop and change the entire squad to suit his requirements, but it is unlikely that Willian would be part of the players that would longer be needed around Stamford Bridge. For his efforts throughout the season, Willian would easily be assured of a starting berth in the team.
Conte, himself, would want to have the player around, especially as he’s shown that he’s adept at playing in different roles and is willing to adapt himself to suit the situation.
Whether he eventually makes the move will be something we’ll have to wait and see, but if it does happen, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise as there has been a steady influx from the league to China.
