Arsenal technical director Edu has explained how he, along with Gunners boss Mikel Arteta, reached the conclusion that Willian's days at the club were numbered after just one season in north London.
It was a disastrous lone campaign in an Arsenal shirt for the Brazilian, who bagged just one goal in more than 35 appearances across all competitions - a free kick against already relegated West Bromwich Albion at the end of the season.
The decision to hand the 33-year-old a three year contract was one that sparked question marks immediately following his departure from London rivals Chelsea, but the winger will not see out the rest of his deal with the Gunners.
This is because Willian has opted to terminate his contract by mutual agreement, ending his Arsenal nightmare once and for all.
This decision has led to praise for the former Chelsea man from some quarters given he could have simply stuck it out for another two years and pocketed £20m from the Gunners despite massively underperforming.
Arsenal of all clubs know all too well what it is like to have a star player on huge wages sat on the bench not contributing to the first-team after the Mesut Ozil saga of last season.
While the transfer undeniably failed to play out as the Arsenal hierarchy had hoped, Edu has explained the thinking behind the move to Sky Sports.
"The decision with Willian was to sign someone with experience, with a lot of Premier League games and to impact the team straight away.
"If you see the first game against Fulham which we played away, he started very well and everybody said ‘wow, now we have a proper team’, but the circumstances were different through the season – inconsistent, for Willian and everyone else, to be fair."
He went on to reveal the discussions that took place between the player, himself and boss Arteta which eventually lead to Willian's departure.
"In the end of the season, me and Mikel say ‘how are you? because I need you much more consistent, what’s happening?’ and he said he was not 100 per cent comfortable.
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"When I listened to that and when Mikel listened to that we made the decision to say ‘okay, we don’t want a player here that is not 100 per cent comfortable, not 100 per cent with the team, it is my business to try and find the best solution.
"If it’s a mistake or not, it’s hard to say. You wouldn’t if our season had been better with everyone being more consistent. But the most important thing is that we tried what we tried."
