Brazilian international Willian terminated his contract with Corinthians on Friday after the former Chelsea international revealed he had received repeated death threats on social media.
“Willian asked us to terminate the contract with him. It’s a shame, we wish he’d stayed here longer, but to stay here the player has to be happy,” Corinthians president Duilio Monteiro Alves said in a video posted on the club’s website. Twitter account.
According to local media reports, it is possible that 34-year-old Willian will return to the English Premier League through the gates of Fulham.
Willian joined Corinthians last year, who previously defended their colors in the 2006-2007 season, with a contract until December 2023.
The winger, who participated with his country in the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, said he left Corinthians for personal reasons, in particular because of threats against him from fans on social media, some of which were directed against his children.
“The threats never stopped,” Willian told Globosport. “Every time Corinthians loses or plays badly, my family gets threatened and insulted on social media. They targeted my wife and daughters, and then my father and sister.”
Willian has scored just one goal and provided six assists in 45 games since his return to Corinthians.
Willian spent 15 seasons in Europe, including seven seasons with Chelsea, where he won the Premier League twice (2014–2015 and 2016–2017) and the European League Europa League (2018–2019).
Willian also had other stops at Shakhtar Donetsk (2007–2013) and spent his last European season at Arsenal (2020–2021) before returning to Corinthians.
Source: AFP.