EPL: Willian gets three-year deal worth over £100,000-a-week as Arsenal lay off 55 staff

FA Cup champions, Arsenal, have made a formal three-year contract offer to Chelsea’s Willian, Sky Sport reports.

The deal will see the Brazilian international earn more than £100,000-a-week at Emirates.
Willian will be a free agent once Chelsea’s Champions League campaign concludes this month after he recently rejected Chelsea’s latest offer to sign a new two-year contract at Stamford Bridge.
Arsenal are now at the pole position to land the 31-year-old.

Mikel Arteta’s side are understood to have offered Willian a deal which runs until 2023.
The likely arrival of Willian comes as Arsenal prepares to lay off 55 staff.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Arsenal said that the decision to cut jobs is necessary because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Gunners’ finances.
“In line with other football clubs and many other businesses operating in the sport, leisure and entertainment arena, we have been impacted directly by COVID-19,” the Arsenal statement read in part.

“Our main sources of income have all reduced significantly.
“Our aim has been to protect the jobs and base salaries of our people for as long as we possibly can. Unfortunately, we have now come to the point where we are proposing 55 redundancies.”