Corinthians attacker Willian: Roma, AC Milan wanted me to stay in Europe | OneFootball

Corinthians attacker Willian admits he had an offer to stay in Europe when leaving Arsenal last year.

Willian left the Gunners for Corinthians in August, though says he also had contact with several other clubs at the time.

He told Four Four Two: "When I was in negotiations with Corinthians, I received an offer from Lyon.

"Milan were also interested and my agent spoke to José Mourinho, who wanted to take me to Roma. He's a great friend of mine, but things progressed faster with Corinthians and I thought it would be nice to go back to Brazil.

"I got a lot of messages asking me to come - you could see people were really excited. On top of that, it was also an opportunity to get closer to the national team. I talked to my wife and my daughters about it and they were all in agreement, which made the decision easier."