Chelsea star Willian reveals he held talks with Manchester United as Jose Mourinho attempted to clinch a reunion
Brazilian winger says he nearly clinched a move to the Red Devils as his former Blues boss tried to bring the attacker to Old Trafford
CHELSEA star Willian has revealed he almost secured a reunion with Jose Mourinho at Manchester United this summer.
The Brazilian attacker was player of the year in the Portuguese coach's final campaign with the Blues.
But he found game-time harder to come by under Antonio Conte as Chelsea stormed to the Premier League title last season.
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And now Willian has admitted talks did take place - although Mourinho's chance of a second reunion after securing Nemanja Matic fell through.
He told Goal.com: "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.
"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."
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Pedro and Eden Hazard were preferred behind Diego Costa by Conte in his Chelsea attack during the Italian manager's first campaign at Stamford Bridge.
However, Willian started in the Community Shield defeat to Arsenal on Sunday.
And although he admits Mourinho and Conte are different, he is desperate for more success in West London under the former Juventus chief.
He said: "They are very different. Everyone has their way of working. Mourinho is a coach who likes more the ball practice, works the ball possession and makes short games," he added.
"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."
He added: "I dream of winning more titles with Chelsea, win a Champions League and Fifa Club World Cup with Chelsea and be one of the best players in the world, as well as win titles with the Selecao (Brazil) and a World Cup."
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