Chelsea to sign Willian in the summer

Chelsea look favourites to sign Willian from Shakhtar Donetsk in the summer after narrowly missing out on the attacking midfielder in January.

The Blues had a £16.7million offer rejected by Shakhtar Donetsk for their Brazilian international last month, with the Ukrainian club looking for near £30m.

Brazilian side Santos are keen to bring the former Corinthians star home, but according to their president, Luis Alvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro, Chelsea are in pole position to land their man at the end of the season.

He said: ‘We gave up because of a proposal that they [Shakhtar] received from Chelsea. It was an offer of tens of millions of euros. It seems that he will go there in the middle of the year.’

Roman Abramovich is a good friend of Shakhtar’s billionaire owner Rinat Akhmetov and the relationship could aid a move for the Brazilian international who has already revealed his excitement over a potential move to SW6.

‘I have friends in the Brazil side who play for Chelsea, like David and Ramires,’ he said in January.

‘All they talk about is the thrill of being in a city like London and playing for a club like Chelsea.

‘I’ve known David since we played together in the Brazil Under-20 side and he talks about what Villas-Boas is trying to build at Chelsea.

‘He and Ramires feel he wants a core of young players who can mature and grow together but also be successful.

‘David says how the coach takes a real interest in all his players, how he can adapt different cultures together and bring the best out of them.

‘Then obviously there is life in London. David and Ramires say there’s nothing like it anywhere else in the world — it’s exciting and challenging at the same time.’

Posted by MarkG on February 8, 2012. Filed under Chelsea, FA Barclays Premiership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.