Santos president Luis Alvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro has claimed that Shakhtar Donetsk forward Willian will move to Chelsea at the end of the season.
Ribeiro has revealed that his club were unable to compete with the Premier League side's financial clout.
"We gave up because of a proposal that [Shakhtar] received from Chelsea," he is quoted as saying by Jornal da Manha.
"It was an offer of tens of millions of euros. It seems that he will go there in the middle of the year.
"We tried [to take him] on loan until the end of the year, but it did not work out."
Blues boss Andre Villas-Boas recently calmed rumours that the 23-year-old would be moving to Stamford Bridge.
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