Willian’s best to come

Willian opens up to Sky Sports about his journey to Chelsea from Brazil via Ukraine, the secrets of his free-kick success, the lowdown on Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3 tactics and what the Blues need to do to win the Premier League…

We’re in the dugout at Cobham FC, the Surrey side who play at the lowest level of semi-professional football in England, just down the road from Chelsea’s manicured training base. The dressing room is clean enough but cosy too. As Willian prepares for a training session, he has time to reflect on unfamiliar surroundings.

Ever seen a changing room like this one? “Never in England,” he tells Sky Sports. “This is small.” Not that it’s completely alien to the Brazilian who grew up in the city of Ribeirao Pires in Sao Paulo state. What were they like there? “Worse than this one,” he says as thoughts drift back to the start of a journey that’s taken him to the Premier League.

Willian’s homeland has been on his mind of late. Earlier this month, he paid tribute to the victims of the Chapecoense disaster and their families upon scoring Chelsea’s winner against Manchester City.

Brazil is his country. But it’s one he had to leave soon after his 18th birthday in pursuit of his goals. There are frequent trips back, even a World Cup there in 2014, but most of his memories are of his childhood. The days in Sao Paulo when he played only for the love of the game in his old Topper boots. 

“I’ve got many memories but I don’t even remember when I started,” he says. “It’s difficult when you start to play football. My boots were much worse.” And what of the pitches? “They didn’t even have grass.” However, he resists the romantic notion that this helped his technique. “No! It was difficult,” he insists.

A childhood friend of Chelsea team-mate David Luiz – “I brought him back! He’s just the same, he never changes” – Willian’s story since then is a modern one. For some, Brazil is a footballing cauldron but the global reality of the game’s economics meant that the player had to head for the ice cold of Eastern Europe to progress his career.

It’s a familiar route for …

continue reading in source www.skysports.com