Willian: Hope Sarri isn't like Conte
When he was asked about his expectations from Sarri, Willian replied: "I hope he's not like Conte! I'm just kidding. But Conte was a very difficult manager. His philosophy, his way of dealing with things, is very complicated. There were a few games, sometimes we just didn't understand.
"There were two times I got substituted and went straight to the dressing room. It was hard to work with him. 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'm sure he's a great manager, who does a great job with the team. I have high expectations ahead of working with him."
Willian was further asked why he thinks it never worked out between him and Conte.
"I don't know, sometimes the manager doesn't like you. I don't know if any of you have been in that situation before. You just feel that the manager doesn't like you but he has to use you sometimes. You didn't do anything bad, but he doesn't like you.
"[Conte] also had problems with David Luiz and Costa. With Diego, I remember it was after the season, [we were] in Australia and he said, 'I'm leaving. Conte said he doesn't need me anymore.' I said, 'What do you mean?'"
"And he said, 'He texted me saying he doesn't need me on the team anymore and I'm not supposed to go back.' But you don't lose a player like Diego Costa. It was a difficult situation."