Willian takes aim at former Chelsea boss Antonio Conte after opening day victory

Willian takes aim at former Chelsea boss Antonio Conte after opening day victory

Chelsea midfielder Willian have revealed he would not still be at the club had former manager Antonio Conte stayed in charge.

Conte left Stamford Bridge this summer after a difficult last season at Stamford Bridge in which the Blues finished fifth in the Premier League.

Willian did not see eye-to-eye with the Italian boss, and has heavily rumoured to be on his way to either Barcelona or Manchester United had Conte remained as manager this season.

And the Brazilian has now confirmed we would have left Chelsea if that was the case.

“Would I be here if Conte stayed? No chance. No,” Brazilian forward Willian told Goal.

“I’m here. I’m here because I want to play for Chelsea. I will only leave if Chelsea want me to go.”

Chelsea and new boss Maurizio Sarri kicked off the new season in ominous fashion with a 3-0 win over Huddersfield Town on Saturday afternoon.

A rare goal for N’Golo Kante opened the scoring before summer signing Jorginho scored from the spot on the stroke of half-time.

Pedro then put the game to bed in the second-half when he slammed home past Ben Hamer after latching on to a through ball from substitute Eden Hazard.

“We wanted to start like that,” Willian said of Chelsea’s opening win, “I think we played very well, we had control of the game, we had possession.

“We always tried to be in control. We played a great game at Huddersfield. We are just in the beginning. We know we have to improve.”