Arsenal Football Club have today, August 14, announced the signing of 32-year old Brazilian winger Willian Borges da Silva on a three year contract.
The two-time premier league champion joins Arsenal on a free transfer from London rivals Chelsea and will don the number 12 jersey after rejecting a lucrative two-year deal from Frank Lampard’s Blues.
Willian is expected to add his experience and undoubted skill as Mikel Arteta looks to build on their FA cup triumph with various analysts expecting the former Chelsea man to play in the middle flanked by Nicholas Pepe to the right.
Willian had this to say after joining the Gunners: “I decided to join because Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in the world. They have a new project with Mikel Arteta. I think this club deserves to shine again and I want to be a part of this project – to be a part of the Arsenal family is amazing.”
Arsenal technical director, Edu Gaspar assured the fans that Willian is the first signing of a big summer for Arsenal. “It will take time but with Willian, we’ve started a big process. We’ve identified the needs in the squad and he’s the one to start to rebalance the squad as we want to.”