Brazilian international Willian terminated his contract with Corinthians on Friday, after the former Chelsea player revealed that he had been subjected to repeated death threats on social media.
“Willian asked us to terminate his contract,” Corinthians’ president, Dulio Montero Alves, said in a video posted on the club’s Twitter account. It’s a shame, we would have liked him to stay here longer, but to stay here the player must be happy.”
According to local media, it is possible that Willian, 34, will return to the English Premier League through the Fulham gate.
The winger, who participated with his country in the 2014 and 2018 World Cup, revealed that he left Corinthians for personal reasons, specifically because of threats against him from fans on social media, some of which targeted his children.
“The threats never stopped,” Willian told Globosport. Every time Corinthians lose or play poorly, my family receives threats and insults on social media. My wife and daughters were targeted, and later my father and sister.”
Willian scored only one goal and assisted six assists in 45 matches since his return to Corinthians.
Willian had played 15 seasons in Europe, including seven seasons at Chelsea, where he won the Premier League twice (2014-2015 and 2016-2017) and the European League (2018-2019).
Willian also had other stops with Shakhtyor Donetsk (2007-2013), and he played his last European season with Arsenal (2020-2021) before returning to Corinthians.