Arsenal made the headlines for the wrong reasons last week, as news of staff redunancies did the rounds. Yet, on Friday morning, the Gunners confirmed the capture of Willian on a free transfer. The Brazilian arrives on a three-year deal following his Chelsea exit at the beginning of the week and it was only a matter of time before the transfer was announced.
He is the first major arrival at the Emirates this summer following their FA Cup success as Mikel Arteta seeks to mould the team. Having inherited a broken squad, the Spaniard did what he could with the tools at his disposal, so to have delivered a domestic trophy so soon after his appointment is a testament to his managerial capability.
However, he needed the backing of the board to improve the squad this summer and they have already outlined their intentions to help Arteta. At 32 years of age, Willian's now in the twilight years of his career, but he does arrive on the back of his most prolific Premier League campaign to date having had a direct hand in 16 league goals for Chelsea last season, scoring nine.
The creator ranked first for key passes in both the Premier League (76) and Champions League (19) of all Chelsea players last season, with the former return more than any Arsenal player in England's top tier. That in itself was one fewer than Arsenal's two most creative players - Nicolas Pepe (40) and Mesut Ozil (37) - managed combined. Settled in London already, the Gunners will be hoping he can quickly get up to speed with his teammates.
And given Ozil clearly has no future in north London, Willian is perhaps the ideal replacement for the German. What's perhaps vital, though, is that Arsenal's new arrival grants Arteta greater attacking flexibility. Using a 3-4-3 setup to end the season, Willian's move to the Emirates means Arteta can continue with the system that delivered the FA Cup with the Brazilian on the right flank, though this would see Pepe relegated to the bench, or switch to a 4-2-3-1 with Willian behind the striker.
Granted, the summer capture played a majority of last season on the right in Chelsea's favoured 4-3-3 system, yet he is able to play in any position across the attack, which can only be a good thing for Arteta and Arsenal. Off the ball, too, Willian's work rate will allow for Arsenal to really pressure opponents in the final third rather than relying on the midfield to shoulder the bulk of defensive duties.
This has previously been a stick with which to beat Ozil and while he is a player who operates better with a free role to hurt opponents, Willian offers greater defensive contribution on the frontline. Indeed, he averaged 1.6 tackles per 90 in the Premier League last season, that higher than any other regular attacking player for the north London side, with Alexandre Lacazette (1.5) closest to matching his return.
"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," Arsenal technical director Edu said on the back of Willian's arrival. The Gunners supremo clearly has a vision for how the squad should look and with the former midfielder and Arteta seemingly singing from the same hymn sheet, Willian's capture is the beginning of the rebuild this Arsenal side so desperately needs as they aim to build on their FA Cup triumph.
