Chelsea look set to miss out on signing Paris Saint-Germain winger Lucas Moura after Willian opted to remain at Stamford Bridge, according to reports.
The Brazilian, who moved to west London from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2013, struggled for form at the start of season and fell down the pecking order, but has enjoyed a resurgence more recently.
He scored Chelsea’s equaliser against Liverpool and had a hand in all four goals against Qarabag, winning back the trust of Antonio Conte in the process.
And French outlet Le10Sport now report that Willian’s renewed form has prompted Chelsea to shelve plans to sell the Brazilian in January and replace him with compatriot Lucas.
The PSG man is surplus to requirements and had been earmarked as the perfect replacement for Willian, who was being lined up for a move to China.
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But now it is Lucas who looks set to move to the Far East after Chelsea went cold on the move, and the winger has reportedly already agreed terms with Beijing Guoan.
It means Willian can forget about transfer rumours and get back to concentrating on Chelsea, who blew their chance to be seeded for the next round of the Champions League – much to Willian’s annoyance.
Asked about finishing as runners-up, he told the Evening Standard: ‘No, we are not happy. We wanted to finish first. We tried to create some chances in the second half.
‘We have this really good team, a strong team. Our desire was to finish first. We are now second, it’s OK, so let’s think about the Premier League and the Cups.
‘We are Chelsea, we are a big team like them. We don’t have a choice. We have to play against the big teams if we want to be the champions.’
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