Chelsea
winger Willian says he would be happy to stay at the club until he is 40
years old and is currently in talks over his future.
The 31-year-old is due to be out of contract at the end of the season and
has previously been a transfer target for Barcelona.
The Brazilian has enjoyed a significant improvement in form in recent weeks,
most recently scoring twice as Chelsea beat Tottenham 2-0 on Sunday.
Despite being free to enter pre-contract negotiations with foreign clubs in
January, Willian revealed he has already began talks with Chelsea over his
future.
"Everyone knows how I love this club and how I enjoy to play for Chelsea. If
I can, I will stay here until I am 40 years old but football is not always
like this," he told Sky Sports.
"[I want to stay] because I like to play here. It's not only my decision, we
have to decide together with the club. We've had some conversations.
"I hope I can say to you guys that I will stay but now I cannot say."
Willian says football's governing bodies need to take more action to combat
racism after team-mate Antonio Rudiger suffered alleged racist abuse during
their win over Tottenham.
An investigation into the incident has begun with the Met Police working
with Tottenham in an attempt to identify any people responsible, while the
FA are also involved.
Rudiger was seen around the 63rd minute indicating he had faced racist
abuse, imitating a monkey gesture, and it led to the Premier League's
anti-discrimination protocol being used for the first time.
Willian says he does not understand how or why football fans can racially
abuse opposition players when they support black players in their own team.
"It's a shame. It's very disappointing, I don't how people can think [like]
that. In their team [Tottenham] they have black players as well. I really
don't understand what they think or why they do these kinds of things," he
said.
"I think we have to find, together, a way to stop this. It's a shame for
everyone.
"It hurts a lot. They don't need to do it against me, they do it against my
team-mates so I feel bad as well.
"Inside the pitch you cannot think much about this otherwise you are not
concentrating [on the game]. We do what we can do, our captain reports to
the referee that we had a manifestation of racism and the ref decides what
to do.
"I hope we see more action from the federations, that's what we want."
top