Chelsea star willian delivers transfer boost to maurizio sarri

The Brazilian’s superb goal got Maurizio Sarri’s team out of a hole at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, as they struggled to overcome Newcastle. Chelsea turned down a £50million bid for the

forward from Barcelona on Thursday, which would have seen £38m winger Malcom come to London in exchange. Barca are expected to come in with another bid but Willian, 30, has pledged his

future to the club. “My future is here,” said Willian. “I have one and a half years contract left and I want to stay until my contract is finished. Of course I would like a new contract. If

they want it, I want. I have been here for five and a half years, won a lot of titles. I am very happy here. “To play for Chelsea you have to put your mind to winning titles every year. I

want that.” Chelsea got off a great start as Pedro scored after eight minutes but then allow Ciaran Clark to equalise. The lack of a goalscorer was glaring – and Willian warned: “We started

the game well and then the team goes down, and that was the problem. “We have to solve that. If you are a team that wants to win something, you have to play for 90 minutes with concentration

and focus.” But after a half-time rocket from Sarri, his team improved and Eden Hazard laid the ball off to Willian, who curled a lovely shot into the far corner. Revealingly, in the week

that Cesc Fabregas departed for Monaco, Sarri said he would have taken off his talisman Jorginho – booed at one stage, saying: “He lost a lot of balls. He was in trouble. If Fabregas was on

the bench he would have been on the pitch instead.” As for Newcastle, manager Rafa Benitez spelled it out loud and clear for owner Mike Ashley – get me some forwards. “The final third is

where we have to spend the money,” said Benitez. “The big clubs are paying £40 or £50mfor players who make the difference. “When you work so hard, and one player makes the difference like

Willian or Pedro, there isn’t much you can do.” But the Spaniard, who will not walk away from the task and is chasing Atlanta United striker Miguel Almiron to try to solve his problems,

added: “If we work like we did at Chelsea and play with the same passion and intensity, I believe we will stay up. We’ll win against some teams, especially in the bottom half.” “We have been

close against the top sides. We did well as a team and were good in many parts of the game but in the final third they made the difference.