Willian is wanted by Liverpool as well as Tottenham, but is thought to be close to a move to Spurs. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
 					
 	      	    As far as Premier League clubs are concerned, in the great 
Anzhi Makhachkala  sell-off there are two great prizes. One is Samuel Eto'o, who has made  welcoming noises to his former club Internazionale and his former  manager José Mourinho. According to Sky Italia, his representatives will  meet with Inter, 
Chelsea and Tottenham on Tuesday – while there have also been rumours of interest from Manchester United. The other is Willian, 
the Brazilian forward who is wanted by Tottenham and Liverpool.
Willian  followed the increasingly well-trodden path from Brazil to Shakhtar. He  had played only 16 league games when, shortly before his 19th birthday,  he decided to join the large Lusophone community in Donetsk. There, he  prospered in Mircea Lucescu's attacking system, tending to operate on  the left of a 4-2-3-1, cutting infield on to his stronger right foot. He  is quick, deceptively powerful and, like most players the Romanian  coach gets hold of early, intelligent in his use of the ball.
If  there is a criticism of him it is that he doesn't score as many goals as  he probably should – an average of roughly one every eight games over  his career – although it should be born in mind that he has always been a  creator rather than a finisher. Shakhtar's style is to work the ball  from the back of midfield wide and then return it to the middle for Luiz  Adriano and Jádson then Henrikh Mkhitaryan; goalscoring was always a  secondary consideration for Willian. That said, Douglas Costa and Alex  Teixeira, who operated on the right in Willian's time, are each almost  twice as prolific, although that may be as much to do with the  right-sided skew created by Darijo Srna's forward sallies from  right-back as anything else.
Willian moved to Anzhi last winter  for £30m – roughly the fee they're seeking to recoup. Lucescu was  clearly frustrated to see him go, but could do nothing once Willian's  release clause had been triggered, and spoke darkly about "the huge  pressure" he was under from "his agent and relatives". He is hardly the  first player to seek big money at a club that seemingly offers little  beyond the pay packet, but that does perhaps offer a warning to suitors.
Willian's  time in Russia has not been a roaring success, but he has probably been  the best attacking player in a miserable start to the season for Anzhi.  Five games in – the first four of them played before the cut-backs were  announced – they have only two points and are second bottom of the  table.
Willian was left out for Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Zenit,  presumably to protect him pending a move, but played in the other four  games – operating on the right and in the centre of a 4-2-3-1 and on the  left of a 4-3-3 – and set up three of the four goals that Anzhi scored.  According to figures from 
www.whoscored.com, no player in the Russian league completed more key passes or more successful dribbles in those four matches.
Although  he could operate on the right, the likelihood is that Tottenham see  Willian as a replacement for Gareth Bale, somebody who will start on the  left and cut infield (it is just about possible that he could operate  on the left with Bale used in a more central role but there seems a  major danger of them ending up occupying the same space). In terms of  pace and directness, there are similarities, although Willian should not  be thought of as a like-for-like replacement. Quite apart from anything  else, he simply doesn't offer the same goals return – even if it is  reasonable to expect he could become more prolific in a system that  encouraged him to get into scoring positions.
At 
Liverpool,  the idea would presumably be for Willian to ease the pressure on  Philippe Coutinho, operating primarily from the left, although he could  play on the right or behind Daniel Sturridge (or Luis Suárez if he  stays). In that sense, Willian is a very modern player. Like Stevan  Jovetic he can operate not only in what may be considered his natural  position, but also adds depth to the squad by being flexible enough to  play in a couple of other roles as well.
Whether he is quite worth  £30m is another question, but with his pace and imagination, there are  few Premier League sides Willian would not improve. At 25, he should be  just moving into his prime. He is not Bale, but he is a very good  creative player.