Willian started for Chelsea in Sunday’s penalty shootout defeat to Manchester United (Picture: Getty)

Chelsea star Willian admits he held talks with Jose Mourinho over a potential summer move to Manchester United.

The Brazil international became a trusted favourite of the Special One during his second spell in charge at Stamford Bridge, but had to settle for a reduced role under Antonio Conte last season.

The Italian manager often opted for Pedro over the former Shakhtar Donetsk winger and Willian subsequently admitted he considered his future during the close season, before committing his future to the champions.

He told Goal: ‘There were a few conversations with my agent. I worked with Mourinho and I became his friend as well.

‘He likes me a lot and I like him a lot as a coach and as a person. He has put his trust in me and in my work, and I was very grateful to him.

Pedro took Wilian’s regular starting spot last season (Picture: Getty)
Jose Mourinho did raid his former club for midfield enforcer Nemanja Matic (Picture: Getty)

‘Manchester came to me, they talked with my agent, but nothing happened, because Chelsea would not negotiate me in any way and I’m very happy at Chelsea.’

‘They are very different,’ he added, when asked about the merits of Conte and Mourinho’s management styles.

‘Everyone has their way of working. Mourinho is a coach who likes more the ball practice, works the ball possession and makes short games.

CHELSEA TRANSFERS IN

Willy Caballero (free, from Manchester City), Antonio Rudiger (£34m, from Roma), Tiemoue Bakayoko (£40m, from Monaco), Alvaro Morata (£60m, from Real Madrid)


CHELSEA TRANSFERS OUT

Juan Cuadrado (£17m, to Juventus), Christian Atsu (£6.2m, to Newcastle), Dominic Solanke (Compensation, to Liverpool), Asmir Begovic (£10m, to Bournemouth), Alex Kiwomya (free, to Doncaster), Bertrand Traore (£8.8m, to Lyon), Nathan Ake (£20m, to Bournemouth), John Terry (free, to Aston Villa), Tammy Abraham (loan, to Swansea), Alex Davey (released), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (loan, to Crystal Palace), Nathaniel Chalobah (£5m, to Watford)

‘Conte likes to work the tactical and the physical part. Every coach has his way of working. Mourinho is a fantastic coach and won everything wherever he went.

‘Conte is a fantastic coach too, because he won everything at Juventus and has already won the Premier League in his first year with Chelsea. Each one has his merits.

‘[Conte] is a coach who works hard every day, works a lot of tactics and the physical part. In the last season, he transformed our team when he changed the formation to 3-4-3. We managed to assimilate very well what he asked us in the training sessions and things worked out.’

MORE : Gary Cahill admits Diego Costa will be a ‘big miss’ for Chelsea despite arrival of Alvaro Morata