Let us be Gooners, not too many of us Arsenal fans even knew much about the young Gunner Chris Willock but it still feels a bit galling to see this talented youngster leave Arsenal and sign for another club, as reported by The Mirror.
He may never have played a single game in the English Premier League, but Willock was one of the young Gunners spoken about often as having a lot of potential. The fact that it is Benfica, one of the big hitters in Portugal, that he has given up on the Gunners to sign for says a lot.
Apparently the main reason behind this move by Willock, who joined the Arsenal youth system at the incredible age of five and whose younger brother Joe is still with us, was having a growing sense of frustration at his lack of playing opportunities.
I can understand that in a way, even though he did play two games in the EFL cup last season. The report claims that he will not be playing in the Benfica first team to begin with either but you have to assume that he will get more first team chances there soon and so it makes sense in the interests of his career and I for one wish him well.
The report does not say, however, if Arsenal have put any sort of clause into the transfer, such as a first refusal should Willock blossom and prove to be a bit a of a star. Surely we would have at least tried to do this after seeing Man United forced to break the world transfer record to sign one of their former academy players Paul Pogba back from Juventus.
Does anyone out there know if there is any clause involved in the Willock transfer? And if not, why not?
Bob.