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 has asked us to terminate his contract,” Corinthians president Duilio Monteiro Alves said in a video posted on the club’s Twitter account.
According to local media, Willian (34) could return to the English Premier League through the Fulham gate.
Willian joined Corinthians last year, who previously defended his colors in the 2006-2007 season, with a contract that runs until December 2023.
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 have been targeted, and then my father and sister.”
Willian scored only one goal and six assists in 45 matches for Corinthians.
“My performance did not live up to my expectations, but I was never a player who scored 20 or 30 goals in a season,” the Brazilian admitted to the Brazilian network “ESBN” on Wednesday.
The separation between the two sides comes three days after Corinthians were eliminated by compatriot Flamengo in the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores, the most prominent continental competition in South America.
Willian played 15 seasons in Europe, including seven seasons in Chelsea, where he won the Premier League twice (2014-2015 and 2016-2017) and the European League “European League” (2018-2019).
He also had other stops with Shakhtar Donetsk (2007-2013), and played his last European season with Arsenal (2020-2021) before returning to Corinthians.
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