Willian Jose Must Overcome His Transfer Disappoint and Help Fire Sociedad into Europe

Real Sociedad striker Willian Jose will not be playing Premier League football this season. The Brazilian saw his ‘dream move’ to Spurs agonisingly fall through on transfer deadline day and despite also being linked with Manchester United, neither club was willing to match the asking price for the 28-year old. He will remain in San Sebastian for the time being and must ensure that his performances don’t suffer as a result of his recent disappointment.

Tottenham are negotiating a deal for Real Sociedad striker Willian Jose, who has a €70m release clause in his contract. (ESPN) pic.twitter.com/SxKSODCLcf

— Transfer News Central (@TransferNewsCen) January 30, 2020

The former Zaragoza man has already apologised to Real Sociedad fans and expressed his desire to continue working hard for the Europa League-chasing outfit. He’s already off the mark in 2020 having notched the opening goal in his side’s 2-1 defeat to Villareal on January 5th. However, he has featured in the match-day squad on just two occasions throughout January and was excused from their recent Copa Del Rey victory over Espanyol.

He has earned plenty of plaudits over the past few seasons and is still hugely popular with the supporters. Since arriving at the club in 2016, he’s managed to reach double figures in each of his first three seasons in the Basque Country. During the 2017-18 campaign, he hit a career-best 15 goals, which helped him become a firm favourite with the Anoeta faithful. The crowd have sung his name on a number of occasions over the last couple of years and he’ll be desperate to regain their trust over the coming weeks.

Willian Jose endured a barren December, failing to notch a single goal in the run-up to the winter break and has understandably been affected by the recent speculation surrounding his future. Real Sociedad have spent the majority of the campaign in the top half of the La Liga table and still harbour hopes of a top-six finish. Despite beginning 2020 with back-to-back defeats, La Real could still sneak into the European spots and the wantaway striker could still have a big part to play. They have a number of tough-looking fixtures on the horizon, with a trip to Barcelona at the beginning of March arguably their toughest assignment. Quique Setien has made a solid start to life at the Nou Camp, winning four of his first five matches in charge, and his side are still the 11/10 favourites in the latest La Liga betting to make it back-to-back titles. Sociedad always tend to struggle in Catalonia and have been narrowly defeated in each of their last two visits.

Willian Jose is only the fourth player in history to score four goals in a Europa League game ⚽️

I’ll take him on loan if he wins us the Europa League 😂😂 #MUFC

pic.twitter.com/VSaq68xSlZ

— United Zone (@ManUnitedZone_) January 30, 2020

Fans will be delighted to have retained the services of their top goalscorer for the remainder of the season, despite the fact that both Portu and Mikel Oyarzabal have chipped in with a number of important goals so far this campaign. The latter has seven goals and four assists, although he is yet to hit the target in 2020. 

Players heads can often be turned by transfer speculation and Willian Jose must ensure that he doesn’t suffer a dip in form over the next couple of weeks. Imanol Algucil must ensure that the forward isn’t rushed back too soon and that he is given enough time to ensure his head is in the right place. The Porto Calvo-born striker is desperate to play Champions League football and is highly likely to be linked with a move away once again this summer. In the meantime, he must knuckle down and concentrate on firing his current employers back into the Europa League.

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