Willian move would be incredibly short-sighted for Barcelona
By Matt Addison
Barcelona have been strongly linked with a move for Willian, but at the mooted price-tag, it makes little sense.
Barcelona have reportedly had three bids for Brazil international Willian knocked back by Chelsea, with the latest said to amount to around £55 million.
To go that high with their offers, Barcelona must have been confident of getting their man, while it will come as no surprise that Willian would have wanted to make the move, as there’s a long line of South American stars who have gone to Camp Nou before.
With Barcelona reportedly close to sealing the signing of Bordeaux’s Malcom, it might be that Willian doesn’t get to follow in the footsteps of Javier Mascherano, Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho in leaving the English top flight for Catalonia, but it might be for the best for Barcelona if it works out that way.
Too steep a fee
Even in a post-Neymar world of massively inflated price-tags, a fee north of £60 million would be required for Chelsea to allow Willian to make the switch.
Willian will be 30 years old by the time the Liga season kicks off, so there would be no sell-on value for Barcelona, and his Chelsea record doesn’t warrant that kind of fee regardless.
Since heading to Stamford Bridge from Russia in August 2013, he’s averaged just one goal every six and a half matches in the Premier League for Chelsea and notched just six in 36 appearances last season.
Those are hardly disgraceful numbers, and he has other qualities, but they don’t add up to that sort of price.
Barcelona need players who are at the very top level, and Willian falls into the bracket below that.
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Dembele potential
Additionally, Barcelona have French prodigy Ousmane Dembele among their ranks. The winger was acquired from Borussia Dortmund last summer for a fee that could rise to just over £135 million.
Along with Coutinho, Suarez and Lionel Messi, they’re hardly in need of attacking reinforcements in terms of nailed-on starters, as Willian would have to be at that cost. The club wouldn’t spend that kind of money and than consistently leave him out of the starting XI.
Of those players, Willian would be most likely to displace Dembele, preventing the 21-year-old winger from progressing.
Dembele has the potential to become one of the best in the world, hence why Barcelona spent so much to prise him away from Dortmund last summer having lost Neymar to PSG; buying someone who would stunt his growth in the team would make no sense.
At the age of 30, Willian is not going to further improve, while at the same time he would stop Dembele from getting the minutes on the pitch he needs to elevate himself to the status of being one of the world’s elite.
It would be incredibly short-termist to bring in Willian now; the money could be much better spent elsewhere.