Willian is set to become an Arsenal player after he bid Chelsea fans goodbye in an open letter, confirming that he is leaving Stamford Bridge after 7 years.
A lot Chelsea fans knew Willian would be leaving the club soon, but moving to red-side of London is what most of them did not see coming.
However, Willian is not the first player to make such a move.
There have been quite a number of players who have featured for both clubs.
Emmanuel Petit, Lassana Diarra, Nicolas Anelka, Yossi Benayoun are among players who played for the two London clubs.
But we will look at these six players:
William Gallas
In 2006, William Gallas moved to Arsenal from Chelsea as part of a deal that brought Ashley Cole to Stamford Bridge.
After the transfer, Chelsea issued a statement that Gallas threatened to deliberately score own goals if he was not allowed to leave Chelsea.
At Chelsea, Gallas won two Premier League titles but failed to win any silverware with the Gunners. He later joined another London club, Tottenham, in 2010.
Ashley Cole
Ashley Cole’s move to Chelsea from Arsenal was surrounded with a lot of controversies, as Cole was found guilty of making contact with Chelsea over a possible move, without informing Arsenal.
Cole, Chelsea and Jose Mourinho (Chelsea’s manager at the time) were all fined in relation to the transfer deal.
Ashley Cole eventually signed for Chelsea on August 31, 2006, for a fee of £5 million, with William Gallas being transferred from Chelsea to Arsenal as part of the same deal.
Cole had a successful stint at Chelsea, where he won the Premier League, the Champions League and four FA Cups.
Cesc Fabregas
Fabregas was at Arsenal for eight years, and captained the team in his final three years at the Emirates.
He joined Barcelona in 2011 and later moved to Chelsea in 2014 for a fee in the region of €33 million.
He won two Premier League titles and an FA Cup at Chelsea.
Petr Cech
Cech is arguably one of the best goalkeepers in the history of the Premier League.
He spent 11 years at Stamford Bridge where he won the Champions League, Europa League, four Premier League titles, and four FA Cups and three League Cups.
He moved to Arsenal in 2015 for a fee of around £10 million.
Cech won another FA Cup with Arsenal and played his final game for the Gunners when they lost 4-1 to Chelsea in the 2019 final of the Europa League.
Olivier Giroud
Giroud was at Arsenal for 5 years, where he scored 105 goals in 253 appearances. He also won three FA Cups with the Gunners.
He joined Chelsea in January 2018 and won another FA Cup. He also won the Europa League with Chelsea after he scored against his former club (Arsenal) in the 2019 final at Baku.
David Luiz
Absolutely no Chelsea fan ever thought David Luiz will make a switch from Chelsea to Arsenal.
He joined Arsenal in 2018 for a reported fee of £8 million.
He has so far had a wonderful time at the Emirates, even though he did not have a good start at the club.
He recently won the FA Cup with Arsenal, as the Gunners beat the Blues at Wembley on August 1, 2020 to lift their 14th FA Cup title.
source: kuulpeeps.com
Click on the comment box below and leave us your thoughts. Thank you
