Willian Says Antonio Conte Was 'Very Difficult to Work With' at Chelsea

Willian has admitted he found former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte "very difficult to work with" and joked that he hopes new Blues boss Maurizio Sarri is not like his predecessor. 

The Brazilian's game time was limited in Conte's two-year spell and Willian has now opened up about his issues with the Italian's methods, per ESPN Brazil (h/t ESPN.co.uk):

"I hope he [Sarri] is not like Conte. No, I'm kidding. For me, Conte was a manager very difficult to work with. His philosophy, his way of dealing with things is very complicated. There were a few games ... Sometimes we just don't understand. You're playing very well, then you get substituted. I do not understand. There were two times when I got substituted and I went straight to the locker room. It was hard to work with him.

"But in life, we learn from these kinds of things. We learn so much from difficulties. There were two years when I stayed on the bench in so many games, coming in later in the game.

"But this is in the past. The important thing now is to talk about Sarri. From what I heard, I am sure he is a great manager, who does a great job with the team. I have high expectations for working with him."

During Conte's tenure, 35 of the 70 Premier League appearances made by Willian were from the bench.

The 29-year-old seemed to make his opinion of the former Juventus and Italy boss very clear when he posted a celebratory FA Cup final photograph on social media which hid Conte, via ESPN FC's Liam Twomey:

However, Willian told ESPN Brazil the placement of the emojis wasn't intentional: "My daughter was playing with my cell phone and she ended up putting those emojis over Conte!"

Rumours have abounded during the summer that Willian could exit Stamford Bridge. He has been linked with both Manchester United and Barcelona, per The Independent's Jack Watson.

However, he now looks set to go into the new campaign still as a Chelsea player under Sarri.

The former Shakhtar Donetsk man played 31 minutes from the bench as Chelsea were well beaten by Manchester City in Sunday's Community Shield.

He will have designs on forcing his way into the starting XI with the new Premier League term kicking off for Chelsea when they take on Huddersfield Town on Saturday. 

Willian has won Chelsea's Players' Player of the Year award twice in the last three seasons and has proved himself to be one of the most creatively adroit players in the Premier League.

He clearly did not have a great relationship with Conte but, under Sarri, he should be able to return to his consistent best.