Is Chelsea's Willian the signing of the season?

Willian (L)

It would be fair to say that Saturday evening wasn’t Willian’s best performance in a Chelsea shirt as far as his recent high standards go.

The Brazilian has been a revelation in the last few months after having adjusted to the Premier League and his performances have been so good that he has sometimes been preferred to compatriot Oscar for certain clashes. He’s been earning rave reviews, and rightly so, but does he rank as one of the signings of the season?

Willian didn’t sign until very late on in the transfer window and, consequently, it took a while before he made his first league appearance, October to be exact. His opening ten minutes wasn’t bad, though, in which the Brazilian scored a pearl of a goal from distance away at Norwich.

Since then, he has only missed three matches and his performance score stands at 314. In Chelsea’s supremely talented team that isn’t in the top five but the ex-Shakhtar Donetsk man has chipped in with two goals and has created 37 goalscoring opportunities – the second highest total at the club, which is very respectable considering his late arrival.

Furthermore, his average pass accuracy of 85% is amongst the best at the club and, so far, he has won 25 of his 46 take ons and he has weighed in on the defensive front with 29 tackles. He was instrumental in shackling Yaya Toure during Chelsea’s victory at the Etihad in the league and he is clearly an important player for Jose Mourinho.

How does he compare, however, to other attacking arrivals? Some more defensive signings such as Steven Caulker, Tom Huddlestone and Paulinho have impressed at their new clubs but they aren’t headline stealers like Willian, and as defensive players see their quality judged by very different skills and attributes. It therefore makes more sense to compare him to more attacking new arrivals.

The three players I have chosen to compare to Willian are Mesut Ozil, Jesus Navas and Christian Eriksen. Manchester City pair Fernandinho and Alvaro Negredo both put in strong cases being the signing of the season but they are trickier to compare to Brazilian.

Of the quartet Navas has appeared in the most games whilst Eriksen has played the fewest. Meanwhile, Ozil just edges the performance score ahead of Navas but it is important to remember both have played far more than the other two. The German is way out in front in terms of forward passes made and he also leads the key passes stat which demonstrates how creative the midfielder is. Navas and Ozil have both scored four times whilst Eriksen has three and Willian just two. Ozil leads the way in terms of shot accuracy at 84%. Once you move into the defensive zone he fades, though. Willian has made the most tackles with 29 whilst Navas has the most interceptions (16).

Eriksen has flashed hot and cold but when he turns it on it is clear to see he’s a real talent. Willian is undoubtedly in fine form but does he warrant the label of signing of the season?

No, not yet. If he can keep this up then there is no reason he can’t take that accolade but at the moment he hasn’t done enough to justify his price tag amidst the performances of other new signings.