Why the abuse?
At the end of last season, Willian was named both Chelsea Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year at the club's annual awards at Stamford Bridge. It was only the third time that one player had been honoured with both prestigious accolades, voted for by the supporters and fellow pros respectively.
Despite the fact that Chelsea experienced one of their worst seasons in years, Willian managed to find the net an impressive 11 times, including six goals from direct free-kicks. This, allied with his ceaseless work-rate and impressive stamina, obviously caught the eye of new manager Antonio Conte.
Amidst rumoured interest from Manchester United and other clubs, the 27-year-old Brazilian was rewarded with a new four year deal at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday. The news was announced by way of a celebratory tweet from the official club account.
https://twitter.com/ChelseaFC/status/752896031034048512
Now you'd assume that this would be universally greeted as great news by the Chelsea faithful, no? Surely they'd be ecstatic at securing the future of a vital player for the foreseeable future? Wrong!
For whatever reason, there seems to be a significant contingent amongst Blues followers who simply do not rate the player - quite the opposite in fact. So much so that they took to Twitter to express their angry displeasure at the new contract.
Here are just some of the disaffected support:
https://twitter.com/m7amad3m_/status/752900124968415233
https://twitter.com/Writel/status/752896731235442688
https://twitter.com/NicoSulky/status/752901723279228928
https://twitter.com/DeadIyEden/status/752896487999275008
https://twitter.com/EIasticoKenedy/status/752896161619517441
https://twitter.com/BiGGz1_/status/752898841263865856
https://twitter.com/Thibauted/status/752896098134585344
https://twitter.com/fabregasesque/status/752905570189975556
https://twitter.com/Gowtham_KJ/status/752897245112971264
https://twitter.com/OdinakaChelsea/status/752905748179550208
https://twitter.com/EIasticoKenedy/status/752899172613906432
https://twitter.com/MichyyBichyy/status/752896445540241408
https://twitter.com/citizendonGh/status/752898565698093056
Blimey. In fairness, there are also a good number of Chelsea fans who are somewhat perplexed as to why the player received such extreme levels of abuse. It certainly is a game of opinions...
https://twitter.com/JackMKelly26/status/752906369871843328
https://twitter.com/NemanjaMaxic/status/752901572703588352
https://twitter.com/MrDilk1ington/status/752899070365147137
