Playing for 90
Fansided

Chelsea Shouldn’t Offer Willian an Improved Contract

By Rucker Haringey

Jun 17, 2014; Fortaleza, Ceara, BRAZIL; Brazil midfielder Willian (19) and Mexico midfielder Marco Fabian (8) race after a loose ball during the second half of their 0-0 tie in a 2014 World Cup game at Estadio Castelao. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 17, 2014; Fortaleza, Ceara, BRAZIL; Brazil midfielder Willian (19) and Mexico midfielder Marco Fabian (8) race after a loose ball during the second half of their 0-0 tie in a 2014 World Cup game at Estadio Castelao. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Chelsea is reportedly working on a new contract for Brazilian attacker Willian. Given their struggles this season no one should be receiving a raise, not even the diminutive free kick specialist.

Chelsea has been a dumpster fire this season. They sit 15th in the latest Premier League table and their form has them miles away from defending their title or even reaching the top four. That’s what makes their move to provide Willian an improved contract so baffling.

I think Willian is a quality Premier League player. He’s clever on the ball and is an exceptional free kick artist. He’s someone who can help any Premier League club including Chelsea. However, he isn’t a world-class superstar. He’s just a nice player. Given Chelsea’s current struggles they shouldn’t be spending their time and money on retaining luxury players like Willian. They should be focusing on fixing their core to power their Premier League resurgence.

Willian has been OK for Chelsea this season, but he hasn’t been spectacular. His Whoscored.com rating checks in a tick below seven and is only fourth on a team that’s badly under performed on the season. In the Premier League he’s only contributed two goals and one assist in 12 appearances. These aren’t the statistics of a player Chelsea should be working hard to provide with a raise.

More from Playing for 90

The reason Chelsea have been hoodwinked into offering Willian a new deal are his performances in the Champions League. In those four matches he’s had a much greater impact. He’s tallied three goals, including a sublime late game-winner against Dynamo Kiev that have kept Chelsea afloat in the competition. I can see why these performances would cloud a fan’s judgment, but the ownership structure at Chelsea should be smarter.

They should be evaluating their players for the season on the whole. They shouldn’t be fooled or rushed into offering player’s new contracts based on their stand-out performances in select games. Even if those Champions League games are the most important, they can’t overshadow what’s been a mediocre Premier League campaign for the Brazilian. They are moving to offer him a new deal based on his four best games. There are a lot of Premier League players who deserve raises if we only judge them by their top performances.

Offering a new contract to Willian is in some ways, a show of supreme arrogance (or confidence) by Chelsea. They believe their talent level is still so powerful that they need to lock up players that can round out their top 11. They still believe they are close enough to title contenders to worry about securing Willian’s services long-term.

He’s someone who can send you from good to great on a day. What he isn’t, is someone who can consistently put in strong shifts to lift you from the Premier League bottom. When you sit in 15th place that’s the sort of player you should be looking for.

Willian will likely get a shiny new Chelsea contract in the next couple of weeks and fans will applaud their ownership for being proactive. The simple truth is he’s not the sort of player that Chelsea need to be concerning themselves with given their current state. The attention they pay to him is just a continuation of the extravagant ideologies that have gotten Chelsea into their current mess.

Home/Chelsea FC