Shakhtar Donetsk prepared to sell Willian to Chelsea or Tottenham for £20m
Brazilian playmaker keen on a move to the Premier League
Tuesday 15 January 2013
Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk will consider selling Brazilian playmaker Willian to Chelsea or Tottenham this month but they will be demanding about £20million.
Willian is the star of the Shakhtar side who qualified for the knock-out phase of the Champions League at the expense of Chelsea but he remains keen on a move to the Premier League and Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu has expressed his displeasure with him for failing to return from Brazil on time for the club’s winter training camp.
Shakhtar’s have no need to sell due to their financial backing, but the £12.4m signing of Taison, a similar type of player, from Metalist Kharkhiv last week gave a clue about their thinking.
While the asking price is high, The Evening Standard understands that Shakhtar’s stance has softened and that there is a stronger chance of Willian moving to the Premier League this month than there had been in previous transfer windows. He is believed to be open to a move to either London side.
Villas-Boas wanted the 24-year-old during his brief spell in charge of Chelsea and his interest remained when he moved to north London. The Spurs boss believes Willian’s ability to play in different attacking positions makes him ideal for the playing style he wants to develop.
Chelsea also retain an interest and could put together a financial package that would exceed that of Spurs.
Were he to move, Willian would have to wave goodbye to Champions League football for the rest of the campaign. Shakhtar were one of the most impressive sides in the group stages but have been affected in previous years by the three-month winter break that deprives Ukrainian clubs of competitive domestic action from the end of November until the beginning of March.
Shakhtar’s last serious fixture was their home defeat by Juventus in the Champions League on December 5 and their next will be on February 13, the date of the first leg of the last-16 tie against Borussia Dortmund in the same competition.
So while it would be difficult for Willian to abandon a campaign in progress, he would be confident of playing in the tournament again for several more seasons if he moved to England.
Latest in Sport
Sport blogs
iBet: Look To The Lady In The Prince Of Wales
The Prince of Wales Stakes today is regarded by many as the No1 race of the Royal Ascot meeting and ...
by Gareth Purnell
19 June 2013 02:01 AM
iBet: Favourites have a good record in the Coventry stakes
Today’s St James Palace looks a cracker and there has been sustained money for Dawn Approach since t...
by Gareth Purnell
18 June 2013 02:01 AM
Newcastle don’t need a football director – they need a new medical team after finishing bottom of the injury league
Newcastle United have shocked their fans by appointing Joe Kinnear as director of football but new f...
by Alex Miller
17 June 2013 04:39 PM
-
ACT Brumbies v British and Irish Lions - player ratings
-
Liverpool close in on £6m Spanish winger Luis Alberto
-
In pictures: Royal Ascot 2013 - Opening day
-
Exclusive: Cristiano Ronaldo advised to stay at Real Madrid for further 18 months before making possible switch to Manchester United
-
Italy Under-21s 2 Spain Under-21s 4 match report: Thiago Alcantara's hat-trick seals European Championship for Spanish youngsters
- 1 Diary of Second World War German teenager reveals young lives untroubled by Nazi Holocaust in wartime Berlin
- 2 Bosses of collapsed banks should be sent to jail, banking standards commission tells George Osborne
- 3 Breaking the Silence: In the reality of occupation, there are no Palestinian civilians – only potential terrorists
- 4 Uri Geller psychic spy? The spoon-bender's secret life as a Mossad and CIA agent revealed
- 5 Vice pulls 'breathtakingly tasteless' fashion shoot glorifying the suicides of famous female authors from Sylvia Plath to Virginia Woolf
Get your summer started with British Military Fitness
BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes
How will you make today delicious?
Tell us how you plan to make today delicious and you could win a £50 M&S gift card.
Learn a new language
Add another string to your bow with Rosetta Stone, whether it's Spanish, Italian or Mandarin...
Making reading fun for kids
Nook is donating eReaders to volunteers at high-need schools and participating in exclusive events throughout the campaign.
Introducing the 'Get Reading' campaign
Get the latest on The Evening Standard's campaign to get London's children reading.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Day In a Page
First night: The Cripple of Inishmaan
Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention
Female aristocrats battle to inherit the title



Comments