Chelsea FC News

Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of Willian.

The 25-year-old Brazilian was today (Wednesday) granted a work permit and has signed a five-year contract, having moved to England from Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala. He will wear the number 22 shirt.

On completing his move, Willian said: ‘I’m very happy to be here, it’s been a dream of mine to come and play here.

‘Chelsea are one of the best clubs in the world, and now I’m going to play for one of the best managers in the world, so I’m very happy and looking forward to it.’

Born on 9 August 1988, in Ribeirao Pires, Willian Borges da Silva played at Sao Paulo before moving to Corinthians at the age of nine.

Having made his way through the Brazilian club’s academy, Willian rose to prominence in 2005 at the prestigious Copa Sao Paulo de Futebol Junior tournament, which he won with Corinthians before being promoted to the first team shortly after.

Having impressed potential suitors with his performances, Willian’s stock continued to rise, culminating in a move to Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk in August 2007.

Possessing trademark Brazilian skills, and with the guile and creativity to unlock tight defences, during his time at Shakhtar Willian won four league titles, three Ukrainian Cups, three Ukrainian Super Cups and, most memorably, the 2009 UEFA Cup, which was clinched with a 2-1 over Werder Bremen.

Chelsea supporters will be familiar with the player after he scored twice at Stamford Bridge when we beat Shakhtar 3-2 in the group stages of last season’s Champions League. He also impressed during our 2-1 defeat in the away game.

Willian spent six years at Shakhtar before completing a switch to Anzhi last January.

He made his debut for the club during a 3-1 Europa League win over Hannover and scored his first goal in a 3-0 victory at VN Novgorod.

On the international stage, Willian has been involved with the Brazilian national side at Under-17, Under-18 and Under-20 level, and featured in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in 2007, when Brazil were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Spain.

He made his Brazil senior debut on 10 November 2011 in a friendly match against Gabon and has two caps. He becomes the sixth current Chelsea player from that country.

In the second of a new series for the 2013/14 campaign, Oscar pairs six subjects into the categories first, last, best, worst, easiest and hardest…

FIRST

Music. My early memory and one of my favourites is Every Breath You Take by Sting and The Police. I have the tattoo of some of the lyrics around my arm, which is in memory of my father who passed away.

LAST

Opponent. Aston Villa were a very difficult team to play against but we won which was the most important thing. They played in a fairly defensive style which made things difficult for us, so it was even more pleasing to achieve the win. Against Manchester United, we knew they would be one of the strongest teams and it proved that way, so one point away from our home is a good result.

BEST

Training. The swimming pool! No, it is when we have the ball, similar to a game situation. I like any session which is lively and in which we can joke around and have a light-hearted side to it as well.

WORST

Holiday. They were in 2011 and 2012 in Brazil, when I simply didn’t have holidays! That’s because the national team were playing and so I was with the squad and not on holiday.

EASIEST

Game. I remember when I was 15, we had a school championship match. We won 20-0. How many did I score? Eight.

HARDEST

TV. It is called Revenge, and is from America. I am watching it at the moment, I have no idea what is going to happen and it’s difficult to follow the story itself, so this is probably the hardest thing I have had to watch!

Branislav Ivanovic believes we can be satisfied with a start to the season that has brought us seven points from an available nine.

Home wins against Hull City and Aston Villa were followed up by an away stalemate at Manchester United on Monday night, leaving us top of the Barclays Premier League, albeit having played a game more than most of our rivals at this early stage.

‘It’s good, it’s very important, and the start of the season is important for us as a team so we can grow. We have a lot more to do but we are happy with the situation,’ the 29-year-old said.

‘The manager has his ideas, knows what players he wants and needs in the squad, and we are improving with the new players, the young guys. [Andre] Schurrle played very well and all our front line ran a lot [against Manchester United]. Maybe that was the key.

‘It was a very difficult, physical game, with a lot of small details. It was important not to concede a goal and to try to play on the counter-attack. They played with four strikers and it was very difficult for us. We’re happy with the clean sheet.’

Ivanovic feels our strong start has been in no small part to a good defensive showing, and he considers that the platform for success this season.

‘It’s easier this way and we will improve a lot on the attacking side,’ said the Serbian. ‘It’s good to have confidence in the back four and to have opportunities for the young guys in front to improve a lot and show their potential.

‘We worked extremely hard in pre-season and this is the result, but it’s still the beginning and we are looking to the next games which will be very difficult.’

There is, however, a strong belief in the camp that the manager, Jose Mourinho, has his men on track.

‘It’s a pleasure and amazing to work with him but in another way it is very difficult because he is looking for small details, and he is perfect in looking for details in the game, he’s a perfectionist and you have to be ready for that,’ said Ivanovic. ‘He always asks you for one step, one run more, to give something extra for the team, and it’s a pleasure.’

Club legend Pat Nevin was part of Chelsea TV’s coverage of last night’s game at Old Trafford, and now he puts down in words his thoughts on the heavyweight contest he watched…

I promised myself before the Manchester United game that I wouldn’t get carried away whatever the result. We wouldn’t win the league by winning this game and we wouldn’t have lost it by getting turned over this early in the season by the current English champions.

Like everyone else I was looking forward to the game and in particular the tactical battle between the two managers. The spectacle may have been a bit of a let down, but the tactical battle was anything but.

The first skirmish would of course be fought over the team sheets. Who was going to adapt for whom? There was also the Wayne Rooney question, or should that be one of the Wayne Rooney questions. This time it was, will he or won’t he play? Well Rooney played and did well finding space impressively but was snuffed out of creating any real chances by Chelsea’s ultra-organised defence.

What about the team sheets then? Clearly Jose decided to be the one to adapt to make the game a tighter, cagier affair. It worked perfectly, or almost perfectly in that I am sure the Blues would have hoped to break forward and score a goal at some point. It wasn’t to be and we managed to get a point, a point that was a far better one for Chelsea than it was for Man United in that they were the home side after all.

I am sure the more open exciting Chelsea will be in evidence throughout the season but now and again under Jose it will have to be about the result. This was one of those occasions. Before the game I will openly admit that had you offered me a point I would have bitten your hand off, even if it was a trifle dour at times. In fact those were my last words on Chelsea TV before the game.

What was interesting was to watch and see the defensive organisation from Chelsea, mainly because it was text book. There were few chances for United, a great shape and line at the back, constant communication and perfect concentration.As such Rooney, Welbeck and particularly Van Persie were limited to very fleeting sights of goal under huge pressure. The proof of this was that for all the possession that United had at various times, Petr Cech had an exceptionally quiet night. You could talk in depth about any of the back four, all did a sterling job, but I just loved the play by Branislav Ivanovic.

It was a master class from the Serbian and interesting that he played so differently from the home game against Villa earlier in the week. This wasn’t a night for marauding runs into the opposition box, but for a controlled performance, willing to cover his centre-backs in front and behind more than finding himself ahead of our centre-forward. He did exactly that last week to stunning effect, particularly with his headed winning goal, but when the manager tells him to rein it in, he does with robotic efficiency.

I will be putting a piece on the website that will look in depth at Brana’s contribution over the last 180 minutes and I suspect it will underline why he may well arguably be the first name on Jose’s team sheet most weeks this season.

The tactical battles between Moyes and Mourinho have always fascinated me. The Scot is an old friend of mine since the days we were at the same boys club together and I know that he has always wanted to take on the Special One on what he would consider was a level playing field. Well it is level now, he has the money as well as the squad and this will undoubtedly be one of the great battles over the coming seasons. I suspect that privately Moyes may think that the stalemate in this one wasn’t too bad, a defeat would have set the tabloids questioning his ability. In short, round one is a tie, but the bout has a long way to go.

The next few days will be a fever of transfer speculation as it always is at this time of the year. Other than Spurs doing a bit of solid business I suspect the big moves have yet to happen. The outcome of the next few days could have a huge bearing on where the silverware ends up this season.

There is a question of just where all the creative midfielders will fit in for Chelsea, but in the end it is not a bad problem to have. One thing that it does show is that Jose Mourinho is extremely keen to be positive. There will be plenty who will write in the coming days that the defensive style by Chelsea at Old Trafford signals the way ahead, but I reckon a trip to the champions early in the season will look very different from just about every other game from here on in.

The circus moves on and maybe the man most concerned this weekend should be Pellegrini – a couple of defenders out then lo and behold Man City are shipping goals to the league’s new boys. Sense prevails eventually however, this is the Premier League, there are always upsets. Cardiff can mug Man City, just a week after last year’s strugglers Villa waltz out of the Emirates Stadium with three goals and three points. The trick is to make these blips irregular or even rare, because in the English Premier League they will always happen at some point, it is all about how you react in the next game.

Last week’s quiz asked which Chelsea player played the most first team competitive games in the previous 12 months, including internationals. Petr Cech was a popular and intelligent guess which many had, while many more again plumped for Juan Mata, sensible considering his exploits with Spain. More still thought David Luiz might take the prize considering Brazil’s Confederations Cup exploits and this proved decisive, but not for him. It was Oscar who beat everyone else’s total of games in the period, helped by his Confederations Cup and Olympic appearances.

There can be only one winner chosen from the huge number of correct entries and this week it is Ailsa Burrow from London.

To stand a chance of being the random lucky winner next week of a DVD review of last season, signed by one of the players, could you tell me who was the last player to score a winning goal for Chelsea against Manchester United? Answers as ever to me at pat.nevin@chleseafc.com

Good luck with that and let’s hope we can win our first major trophy of the season on Friday against Bayern Munich…the games do not get any easier do they?

There was satisfaction around the team following Monday night’s goalless draw against Manchester United.

Although we were unable to fashion the chances to win the game, the message coming from the dressing room afterwards was that it was important not to be beaten.

‘We were resilient and defended well. If you can’t win the game it’s important not to lose,’ Gary Cahill said afterwards. ‘It’s hard to come here, we tried to push on. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be but it’s important we didn’t lose the game.’

A strong showing from Cahill and his defensive partner John Terry was one of the key reasons United were limited in their goalscoring opportunities. Terry believes it was a case of both sides managing to nullify the other.

‘Neither of us had too many chances to win the game. I think both teams looked solid and it’s obviously a great point for us away from home,’ the captain said. ‘It’s out of the way and we move on now. I think both midfields and attacks cancelled each other out a bit and neither team wanted to lose the game so early on in the season.’

It was a sentiment echoed by Frank Lampard, who worked tirelessly alongside Ramires in central midfield.

‘It was tense,’ said the 35-year-old. ‘People talk about big decider games early in the season and neither team wants to lose. It was a bit of a stalemate in those terms. We worked hard to stop the threat they’ve got up front and they worked hard to stop us.’

Jose Mourinho’s surprise inclusion was Andre Schurrle up front, and the German, making a full Premier League debut, worked as hard as anybody off the ball, but found opportunities hard to come by.

‘It was a difficult game, Man United played very well at home and we wanted to press to be in every situation fighting for the ball,’ Schurrle said. ‘For our first away game with this young team, a point is not bad.

I’m not a typical number nine, I go right, left and deep, but it’s okay for me. It’s my third match. It’s difficult to say something but I like [the Premier League] very much, I like the team very much. The matches are very intense and that’s what I like.’