Former Arsenal star Willian has opened up on his nightmare spell at the Emirates and revealed why he left the club after just one season.

The Brazilian attacker, now 38, joined the Gunners in August 2020 having shone at Chelsea over the previous seven years in what was a statement signing for Mikel Arteta's side.

However, just a year later, Willian departed by mutual consent after struggling badly to replicate the form he had shown at Stamford Bridge. The 38-year-old scored once in 37 appearances.

And Willian, who had previously described his Arsenal stint as 'the worst time that he had lived as a professional', provided further context of what happened on The Obi One Podcast with his former Chelsea team-mate John Obi Mikel.

Reflecting that 'I know it was a big mistake,' he explained how Chelsea would only offer him a two-year extension to his deal, while Arsenal were prepared to give him a three-year contract.

'I met them couple of times,' he said. 'I met Arteta, I met everyone there. And they said "we want you to be the main guy".

'Arteta said to me: "We're going to play like this and I want you to be the main guy, I will build the team around you, I want to give you the key to the club".

'When I heard that, obviously I love Chelsea but I was in the last year of my contract, I was 32, and I was thinking three more years in London, stay with my family in London, they love London. And then I decided.

'To be honest I should have stayed but at that moment I was thinking maybe the best solution is to go there, and I signed for three years there but it was not good.'

Willian went on to reveal how things didn't materialise as he had expected or been promised and said that by November he informed his agent that he wanted to leave the club.

'I got frustrated,' he added. 'I am not saying it is their fault, but when you heard a lot of things and then you join the club, things that are not the same as what they told me, I got frustrated straight away.

'Three months later I said to my agent I want to leave, and that I made a big mistake leaving Chelsea.'

When questioned on what promises were broken, Willian responded: 'It was more due to what I heard. I got frustrated from that because when I was there I saw some situations that I said to myself, it's not going to change.

'But it didn't work and because of that I couldn't play well or perform because I wasn't happy.  When you are not happy you cannot perform. Money cannot buy happiness. It was the best contract of my life there, but I wasn't happy.'

Following a disappointing personal and collective campaign that saw Arsenal finish eighth, Willian told the club he wanted to depart, and he moved to his boyhood side Corinthians.

Willian's stint at the Emirates did come at a time when Arsenal were worlds away from their current status as Premier League champions, yet the Brazilian was still critical of what he witnessed after joining.

'The mentality was totally different to Chelsea,' he added. 'You cannot compare. That's why I got frustrated also because the mentality was not the same in the club.

'When I left Chelsea they were fighting for titles every season, but Arsenal were in the middle of the situation where people were leaving, people were coming, and it was a difficult situation. But straight away I saw the mentality was different.'

The Brazilian highlighted how he felt standards weren't the same in north London, pointing to the fact 'nobody was pushing' younger players, something he found 'very difficult'.

Despite his subsequent success, Willian also shared an interesting appraisal of Arteta's management after explaining their relationship was 'not good'.

He explained: 'I have nothing against him. He's a great coach inside the pitch, his ideas are great but he missed little bits on how to manage the team.

'The human part, he was missing it. It's important, but inside the pitch he is good. I always joke they sold me a dream and it wasn't a good dream.'