Well we were sort of expecting this to happen but it still doesn’t make it easier to believe.
Joe Willock was left out of today’s pre-season game against Tottenham, and it would appear that the reason was because he was busy trying to work out a deal with Newcastle!
Arsenal have reportedly agreed to a deal that would let him join Newcastle, although he has not yet agreed personal terms with The Magpies, according to The Athletic.
Our Academy graduate, who scored a record 7 games in a row for Newcastle at the end of last season on loan, has now been sold for “a fee over 20million” apparently, while we are supposed to be chasing less productive players for much bigger fees.
Because the news comes from The Athletic, which normally means the Arsenal know-all David Ornstein, it would appear that we have to accept it as the gospel truth.
But I am still at a loss to believe it! Why would Arteta make a big show of keeping all our academy graduates together by signing them up to long contracts, and then once one of their compatriots prove on loan that he is good enough for the Arsenal first team, they agree to cash in.
Willock, in half a season, scores more goals than the rest of our midfield managed in two seasons, that tells me that I should be keeping Willock and selling the rest of them!
As you can tell, I am shell-shocked!
Darren N
The soul of our club is being destroyed, if true, selling willock for 20 mil is just plain incompetence, lack of foresight, future planning and team building. We are selling the crown jewels and keeping the costume jewellery.
Since when Did Willock become ‘crown jewel in arsenal’? Wake up man. He has done nothing special in arsenal shirt, he can do it at Newcastle, then good luck, not all players make it big in their parent club, Chelsea is signing Lukaku for the 3rd time now, pogba was initially a Utd player before joining Juve
Adjamin, dont be a prat telling me to wake up.
If he can do it in a poor Newcastle team then surely he can do it in an Arsenal team? Goes to show how even in a bad team, with areal coach you can play better. What do you think loans are for? Should we then keep players that do poorly on loan?Your logic is flawed.
No-one is saying that Willock would be a success if we kept him, fans are simply saying that surely he’s earned his chance, at least until Dec! Issue is the poor coaching and tactics, even Brucie got a lot out of Willock!
Just one question.
Supposed we keep Willock, who should he bench at Arsenal? Should we Keep him as back up? Play him ahead of ESR or Partey , am sure he can’t play in Xhaka position
Same position he played at Newcastle? But in reality he would play in the position that he could make his own, if he could. The point we are making is, You dont bin off a player for peanuts who has an obvious talent and is still very young!
@Adajim No-one is saying he should be a automatic starter, just that he should be kept in the squad now that he’s started to peak.
Perfect player to start cup games and contribute to the last 20 mins of EPL games.
Your opinion Adjamin not mine.
About the 25 mil.
first, we should stop playing this mind-numbing 4-2-3-1, then there would be a position for him, with Xhaka firmly seated on the bench…the whole premise behind the notion of sending a player out on loan is to give said player a reasonable opportunity to get significant minutes, which he couldn’t get otherwise, then see if he can prove himself as a player worthy of keeping…no player, that I can ever remember, at this club anyways, was quite so successful on a loan assignment, especially to another premiership team…if this didn’t justify a second look, what does a player have to do to earn just such an opportunity under this amateur hour administrative team…once again, counter-intuitive nonsense…at least if you kept him no one could question your decision, as no one in their right mind would sell off such a player unless they received an over the number offer, like 50M
@real-viera, if you remember vividly, when Arteta first arrived he wasn’t using 4-2-3-1, in fact he tried different formations, but had to revert back to 4-2-3-1 because it seems our players are more comfortable with it, and since that time we seems to be doing ok
please don’t lecture me on our tactical history…I’ve forgot more things about this club in the last 24 hours, than you have ever know in the entirety of your existence…unless you’re a team fearing relegation, you don’t run a 4-2-3-1 as a base formation without countering with pace…maybe you have some secret information that I’m not privy to where the players voted unanimously to use a formation that only highlights the negative stylings of our 3-wheeled shopping cart of a DM…please enlighten me with another one of your deeply nuanced arguments
Willock would cover twice the distance that Xhaka does and probably make less mistakes . What’s more he knows how to pass forward and get into the box backing up his forwards.
Correct PJ.
£25m isn’t a peanut for willock, in fact it’s a good price,
Just to keep in the squad? For £25m in this period when we lack transfer fund but have loads of not-good-enough players
Adjamin, so by your logic we keep our not so good players for what? Sell off our young homegrown talent coming into its prime for peanuts, panic buy and over pay a player that has no allegiance to Arsenal and isnt guaranteed to be better than we have. Because thats what is and has been done by this crew. Im sorry i dont trust any of them to do the right thing because they so far haven’t.
What is that you say we luck transfer whereby we bought sambi while Joe is a proved goal scoring midfielder even at arsenal look at Europa. Odegaard score 2 goals and Madrid don’t want to sell him. Willock 7 making history mind you he’s not a striker nor a forward. And at Newcastle he was coming from bench. This is ridiculous at Arsenal only. Elneny is left and sell willock surely, Xhaka can not improve team or change the play. He is one style player who is back sliding this club. Nelson was even better than him. I don’t see what kind of play he brings to the only reckless fouls and red cards. He should have followed Luiz in exit to minimize errors at back. Arteta is not a coach to take this club forward. This is a club which we should build a team from academy not buying flops here and there. See balogun couldn’t get a ball because of poor midfielders..sell Xhaka and Elneny. That money for Joe Newcastle to buy another player. Willock should start straight away he deserves that starting 11 from a team without him got to position 8 twice. He collected points for Newcastle from his goals.
It’s £25 million.
crown jewel? really? Ox was sold too when he was playing better. Any good sells from Arsenal have all failed later recently. Iwobi. Ox. Count on. Its a business model to buy young, sell academy players for good value or youngsters for profit. Hope Arsenal learn from past and sell when they can. Current market he is max 20-25mil
Ox didn’t score 7 goals and he was a injury prone. Iwobi don’t score too we luck goals. Good coach can change willock to be a striker like the way Antonio changed..from full back to winger to striker..
40 millions or Keep
So i am Dan ….
Darren sorry
There needs to be buy back clause of some sort. I dont trust MA/Edu one bit (Willian, Runarsson, Emi).
This has to be a joke. I don’t care what anyone says, selling our youngsters for peanuts is not the way forward, we’ve seen what the likes of Saka and Rowe can do if given proper chance. Even if we are going to sell at least sell for some proper money, I said the same thing when we sold Martinez for just 20 million but Eddie and some other fans here said we were lucky to get 20 million for him then, now Martinez is one of the best goalkeeper in Europe, we don’t have any midfielder that can score goals but the one we have we are selling him for just 20 million. I never believed in arteta but at least I still wanted him to succeed but at this rate, I want him gone. For goodness sake sell xhaka to Roma for 17 million, sell el neny for 5 million why should it be one of us, a boy that bleeds arsenal a boy that will play for the badge, am so angry right now.
Smacks of desperation to me not good planning!!!!!
What proper chance did we give Saka for him to be that good? Remember Willock has been with us since Wenger days , so are you saying Saka got better chances than Willock?
Let us keep faith with any development and wish well for us all pls guys!
Yes Lenohappy, like any sane and proper coach would’ve sold a goalkeeper who has performed amazingly over the last two seasons and kept the second choice goalkeeper who couldn’t make it in 20 years and was refusing to sign the new contract that was offered to him.
Everyone else seems to have moved on from the Martinez saga though except you and Martinez himself who likes mentioning Arsenal in every single interview he gives.
He chose to leave, simple. Why do you keep ignoring the fact that he rejected the new deal the club gave him and he chose to walk away because of competition?
Thank so much well said. I love that. You have the knowledge of game.
I think Arsenal recruitment team are under spelt. They need prayers and God interventions. Tou are selling Wilock without a creative midfielder surely!!!!!
We are looking to raise funds and unfortunately, the rest of the playing staff aren’t worth anything. Whose fault is that? The previous coaches? the players themselves? or the administration who give them contacts?
We have have always been a selling club even in the halcyon days of wenger – petit, overmars, Vieira, Nasri, van persie etc etc. Those that have stayed have invariably become stale.
Look at recent seasons … we have struggled to get rid of players of over inflated wages: Mustafi, Mo, Xhaka, saed, bellerin, ozil … and now, we will have the same problem with Willian and … dare i say it, Auba.
Willock is about our only tradable asset. Good player, yes. Worthy of a starting place in the team week in, week out -I dont think so. And that is the beauty of football, we all have an opinion but only one can be right! Lets pray it is arteta’s … but i think we all need to be convinced of that.
If Brighton are willing to pay £20m for Nketiah, i would take that too. On what he has shown, he is not good enough for the starting 11. We need to buy players who will improve the starting 11 … not keep players who will maintain a mediocre strength squad.
Never want to see young gooners not succeed. Willock has an eye for a goal and good energy but in the cold light of day, three coaches have worked with him at Arsenal, none one has picked him week in, week out in the Prem. They can’t all be wrong.
You’re absolutely correct. Let use what we have to get what we wanted. We pray it all works out good.
Rich, Willock is not one of the players who “will maintain a mediocre strength squad.” They are the ones you state, who nobody wants to buy, who Arsenal then keeps to reduce the average quality of the squad. To improve the herd, you cull the unfit poor cattle, not the fit prime cattle, particularly those with further development potential.
You are wrong brother. Better the devil you know than angel you dont know. Okay say we sell homegrown players. Two seasons to come you will see backlog of players like last season why? The system cannot be trusted never and not Arteta and Edu. Selling 4 English players from academy? Fans have to say one voice. We don’t trust them. He brought Elneny from loan whereby he wasn’t performing. What about Willock ..sabotage true..he wants to sell Niles, Nketiah, Willock and Nelson. Why only selling players who played well for Europa till quarter finals then he changed to these players he bought then they started losing games.. Saliba did well at Nice send on loan, Mavropanos did the same send on loan, Guenduzi the same send on loan. Willock best he’s being sold what the hell Arteta is doing gentlemen? Torreira is there he was performing well at arsenal he came and sent him out. Look kind of midfielders he wants very slow lazy no creativity no vision just play plan balls even a tight pass they can’t pass always taking balls to the keeper and that’s why we get scored silly goals.. Chambers not a full back . Cedric is much better than both chambers and Bellerin but he out him on bench. We need new coach otherwise arteta is taking this club backwards. That is his position at Everton so he’s happy there. That’s the secret I’ve revealed for you gunners.
Sadly AFC means Edu and Arteta at the moment.
I doubt Arteta was ever going to play him in any meaningful game anyway.
Just feel good for Joe Willock.
At least at Newcastle, he will have a manager who believes in him!!!
I wish the boy well.
I have said this before, but I think Eddie N, AMN and Reiss Nelson need to get out of the club too, for the sake of their careers.
Are you saying Arteta is why those players are not performing well?, may I remind you that all the players you mentioned has played under 3differents coaches at arsenal with no special impact
And at a younger, less developed age. You can’t expect the same from an 18 yo as a 20 yo! Players need opportunities and time to develop. Now another club gets the benefit with Joe Willock and Arsenal gets money to waste.
Arsenal fans are becoming too annoying, we complain about everything.
Willock has been given enough chances at arsenal since Wenger days and he isn’t good enough, doing a good job at Newcastle and bringing home a £20m for arsenal is fantastic, why moaning over such thing, it would be foolish to keep him on the bench and turn down opportunities to make money just like we did with AMN .
I 100% support this sale just as I supported Martinez sale, some arsenal fans want us to keep everyone and buy everyone, so how many players do we register for epl?, keeping players far too long is reason we are paying ridiculous wages and now having difficulty in selling the ‘deadwoods’.
I saw a report, Brighton are interested in Nketia, I hope it’s true and we recoup some of the money paid for White, we have loads of players we need to move on, could you imagine we still have Torreira, Kolasinac
God Adajim!! I never thought I’d read someone else say this.
Every one keeps pretending like he wasn’t playing since the days of Wenger as wasn’t getting enough chance under Emery.
Arsenal fans are just wired to be this way, complain and moan about everything.
Remember how they never wanted us to accept 20Million for Niles last summer? Guess what, we are stuck with Niles now.
Fans just love moaning. Willock has gotten enough chance at Arsenal, let other young Midfielders get the chance.
It didn’t take Saka and ESR a full season to show they are what Arsenal need. Willock over three seasons couldn’t show that and suddenly everyone’s moaning as if we sold Wilshere Regen or some Rosicky Regen
Lol…how old was he under Wenger and Emery? Haha zero logic applied!
How old was Saka under Emery
How old was Saka when he showed it?
Saka was 17 when I was on here defending him with all of me and everything that he’s a better player than Nelson who everyone was hyping.
It became an argument between Kev and I, guess how old Saka was when a few of us saw that this is the next kid?
Stupid logic trying to bring age in innit?
Exactly…not everyone peaks at the same age, is that difficult to understand? No-one is saying Willock is the best player, we are simply saying that he’s earned a shot at least till December.
Unfortunately I can’t uploads pictures otherwise I’d draw you one.
I love Eddie’s comments, never has his own comments…only even comments on other’s opinion.
Never has his own comments?
Smh I have nothing to explain to you.
If you know me well or you’ve followed JustArsenal for years, you’d know I make my own comments and hardly interact under people’s comments.
Only the last season I’ve been trying to be more engaging.
Also if you ain’t trying to push some dead agenda, you’d know I already made my own comment before you even responded to my comment to Adajim.
You feel so good now don’t you?
How many games has Reiss Nelson Played? Did you watch his games in the europa league last season
Not everybody develops at the same pace . Willock went on loan got regular football and took advantage of it. He deserved a chance at a regular position here and had Xhaka not been unsaleable probably would have got it.
Remember Nelson was sent out on loan and he did perform well but coaches are different to me Nelson he’s the same level as saka. Only that arteta dont promote youth. All those were brought by freddy ljuberg. And after seen arteta ruin the talents from academy he resigned.
That is one of the weirdest observations I’ve seen In a while…..
Arteta wanted to keep AMN, then didn’t use him at all, then threw him on a loan. If Arteta had no intention of using AMN should’ve sold him. The Willock fee is just awful and bad negotiating. No English tax for Newcastle. All nice and affordable.
Keeping him was a mistake and am sure if he had sold him fans would have pounce on him.
AMN make a big mistake of letting go of RB he was really doing good there and even Wolve that were interested in him wanted him as RB am sure probably that’s why they didn’t press the bid, maybe his agent has informed them that AMN was only interested in playing in the midfield
This is a bit of a myth about AMN. He played most of his best games at left wing back (particularly in the FA Cup). When he played RB, I can only remember the Man Utd game standing out, and a lot of people complaining about him losing concentration in the others.
Nonetheless i don’t disagree that he should be focusing on being a fullback. It seems to me he has the attributes to be a brilliant one if he put his mind to it.
talk about hitching your wagon to a losing horse like Adajim, Eddie…is this what we can expect from your posting rebirth of sorts, if so, maybe have a bit of a rethink
Thank you for your advice, but stick to your opinions and let me stick to mine. You ain’t gonna dictate what I agree with or don’t agree with mate.
If that’s what your intentions are, then you should have a rethink
what’s with this newfound post disappearing act that seems to be proliferating…I actually physically saw my response to Eddie posted on the site, then upon returning to the scene, it had subsequently gone AWOL…Admin??
Guilty as charged.
Let us not get into your old habits of insulting people please
that seems a bit rich in light of the normal banter that has been on display recently…I’m not trying to give any more than I’m getting and I’m certainly not using vulgar language…it seems to matter greatly whom in fact the recipient is when it comes to your editing MO…if that’s the case, maybe you could discreetly send me a list of those “untouchables” so I would at least have the opportunity to steer clear…thanks
I’m sure you said the same thing when we sold Martinez last year but now we are trying to buy a rubbish goalkeeper for 30 million.
Yes I said same thing, why do you think it reasonable to keep a keeper of such quality as Number 2, Martinez performance was too good for him to be a second keeper, there was no way we could have kept both, that would be unfair, we had to sell one, and Martinez happened to have suitors, was on the final year of his contract, it was a smart choice
For too little money , He should have started the season in goal and let Leno fight for his place .
Adajim ..I have just questions for u. If they sold Niles, Nketiah and Martinez what could you benefit from? Now you want Willock, Nelson, Niles and Nketiah sold . Do AFC give you money after they make sales or what. Next the business we want in football is winning trophies either they bring all players on loan or free agent and win trophies we fans we’ll be happy but selling and buying players like, pepe, Willian, Luiz, Sokratis, Runnarson, Xhaka that is why 2 seasons we are position 8 …brace. why don’t players given full games like Willian or Luiz. Willock played only full games at Europa early stages and he scores same with Nketiah and Nelson. So those minutes you are saying they were give maybe from ps but not real games. Even the six pre season games did you see them play like those days of wenger? This Arteta nan is using his 1st eleven and get beaten and dont expect any change from friday game henceforth.
Yes how shortsighted of people and rediculous statements. Willock was 17 when playing under wenger not 20 or 22, he was a star for us under Arteta in Europa league and loaned to Newcastle for a very successful loan. He is 21 coming into his prime and has bags of potential and we are selling him for what!
How old was Saka when he started showing he had it in him to be a starter for us?
Don’t play this age card.
What happened to Nelson?
What happened to nketiah
Y’all like to pretend as if some of these kids are not meant to excel somewhere else.
I am sure you were one of those calling for the 20Million bid for Niles to be rejected last summer.
Well now? Good luck getting 20Million or more for him
Eddie, AMN was worth more than 20 mil last season, what has happened since, could partly be put at AMNs door and Artetas. Gouendouzi was valued at more, bad handling and other reasons reduced that, Saliba has had his value slashed because of bad handling. The value a year ago has no bearing on the value today. Ot can go up or down, you cant look back. And if you want too, lets look back at Martinezes value then and now, to conteract it a bit. WE ARE UNDER SELLING WILLOCK TODAY.
Do you know last season at early stages Nketiah had out scored laca , pepe, Willian and auba in score sheet..you know what happened later? This is a business Eddie. You can’t field a players from academy to outshine the one you bought . You will be jobless. So no matter what u say but arteta has and had to prove he was right to hand auba that salary, Willian, Luiz because he was the one who handed luiz second year being a flop. He had to give ceballos, and leave niles bench, odegaard and push Rowe to wing meaning two of saka, Martinelli,Willian or pepe have to settle for the bench and Nelson will definitely miss from the line up.
👍
@Adajim- Willock scored 8 goals in as many games for Newcastle last season. But still was not a guaranteed starter. Who would like to bet Willock does not score 8 goals in the whole of next season. Is he as good as Saka and ESR? Never in a million years.
Arteta has this right in letting him go and getting the £20m we are reportedly receiving for him. If we get the same for Nketiah (Brighton we are led to believe) then that £40m in the bank. Invest that plus £20m for Maddison and we immediately improve our side at the expense of two players who would never be starters.
Nelson and AMN? Get what we can. Bellerin? Whatever is offered will have to do.
Either Lacazette or Aubamayang (likely Laca due to his contract only having a year left) must make way for a CF.
We are not in as bad a position as we seem to be. But this is all now on Arteta and Edu. The season starts in 5 days and we have not been off the mark quickly enough in identifying targets and getting them in.
Exactly! Some players are just not meant for big teams e.g Zaha/Ings and so on, how much game did Saka got to prove his worth, it doesn’t mean Willock doesn’t have potential but he isn’t going to do it here , we sell and move on use the money to upgrade the team, now AMN isn’t worth £5m because we kept him when we needed to sell
And Martinez?
We sold Martinez at the right time.
He was at the final year of his contract just like Willock and he isn’t going to renew, besides, he was too good to be kept as 2nd choice IMO, so a bid came in and we cash-in. £20m for a 28yo goalie at final year of his contract was a good business in a COVID rampage season
@Eddie- letting Martinez go was a huge mistake. Leno is not a bad keeper. We have had a lot worse. But Emi was our best keeper for a long time We needed cash and sold him, but at what cost in the long term?
@Phil, would I love Martinez to be here with us? Of course I would.
But why is everyone making it look like the club Chase’s him out?
He had the contract offer on the table.
He rejected it.
He himself even said the manager told him he was 90% going to start the season in goal for us.
He himself gave an interview and said he rejected it and felt like 90% wasn’t enough.
Phil now I’m sure you’re a very experienced human. 90% to start the season and continue where he ended the season from, he said no and he left saying he wanted to be 100% the first goalkeeper. He was scared of competition.
My problem with folks is why does everyone keep making it look like the manager and club hounded him out and like the manager wasn’t singing him praises saying he wants both Martinez and Leno to stay because competition is good for both.
Why do we have to pretend that Martinez didn’t choose to walk away instead of signing?
Are you guys saying that the club should’ve rejected the offer that came after he rejected the contract?
Help m understand please, because it’s over a year now, I’m still trying to understand why everyone’s blaming the club for a goalkeeper who rejected the contract and walked away
Phil, not sure agree with your assessment of the whole Willock scenario, as I’m not a fan of the “cut off your nose, to spite your face” analogy, but I definitely concur with your Martinez narrative…I too never felt that Leno was a garbage Keeper, in fact he’s clearly an above average shot-stopper, but considering the revelatory nature of Emi’s presence between the pipes and Leno’s inabilities with the ball at his feet, the move was totally counter-intuitive and therefore should never have transpired
not sure I agree…
But Adjamin, we sold Martinez as a mistake, a bloody bad one and he wasn’t a good deal then and it isn’t a good deal now. He was better than we had. Stop twisting. Speak facts
And i called that at the time and not a year later as well. I was very vocal that the wrong keeper was sold and too cheap. Poor poor judgment by the club again.
@Reggie, I think we had no choice but to sell else we may lose him for nothing which would be more depressing
Not contradicting any of your statements, but the first one about Willock not being a guaranteed starter.
Willock made a goal scoring debut at NUFC and started the next few matches. Subsequently, he was dropped to the bench and was brought in as a sub in the next three matches, barring their game against Burnley. He managed to score in all three sub appearances against those three teams that finished above us in the league table last season – Spurs, WestHam and Liverpool.
Willock earned back his place in the starting line-up for the final four matches in the league and continued his scoring streak. He played the full 90 minutes in two of those games and was subbed off during the final 5 and 15 minutes in the other two games and finished the season as a GUARANTEED STARTER.
@Reggie- I’m with you on Martinez. But cash ruled here and the simple fact was we were only going to keep one of EMI or Leno snd it was EMI who decided he wanted the guarantee of being No1 choice which no manager would ever give.
Leno “should” have been sold simply because he cannot play out from the back. He is a very de ent keeper, and far better than a lot will admit to. But Arteta decided which one was sold and it was obviously a huge mistake.
Leno is good. Martinez proved he is better.
Let us stop this Maddisson Hype. I dont see any good thing about Maddisson at 70m pounds. I would rather bring back Aaron Ramsey for peanuts than pay 70m pounds for Maddisson.
I will give you 7 players who are better than Maddisson.
Asensio
Bernardo Silva
Isco
Nabir Fekir
Aouar
Coutinho
Dybala
Besides, Rodgers just said that Maddisson is worth 100m pounds. same price as Grealish.
@ Phil…we bought Laca at 52m Auba at 56m is there anyone of those can be sold for money near to what we bought them..never say arsenal I’ll invest in player at all. That Maddison you want can be bought for that 60m and flop like Pepe. Sanchez,Ozil, Mustafi, Sokratis,Mikhitarayan, Luiz ,Cech brought in big sum or big contract but in return nothing they left for free or retired. Invest in academy. I though this problem was in Wenger when he sold Vela left with Bentnar, Gnabry left with Ox, Malen, Adelaide, etc.
I agree… But ONLY if it directly means it enables is to bring in top tier CM or AM.
Before his spell at Newcastle how good are his stats playing for Arsenal? I don’t think this is such a big deal if it raises money to buy better players than Willock.
We are keeping Xhaka and Elneny and selling Willock? 1 + 1 = 3 at Arsenal.
4 more years of Xhaka….Arghhhh!!!!
And keeping Bellerin, Kolasinac, Torreira, all of whom don’t want to be at Arsenal and AMN who doesn’t want to play RB.
I thought the idea in strengthening a squad was to keep your young and up and coming players, unless you replaced them with better, and sold your underperforming players first. So much for improving the average quality of the squad or building a club spirit with home grown players.
Arsenal develops players, not buy them. What a laugh!
Well said
Incoming attack on the manager and regime for letting Willock go.
A player who couldn’t cut it and even couldn’t impress while he was here and playing under Wenger.
Got a lot of chances under Emery, at some point us fans were questioning what he offers.
He goes to Newcastle, scores 7 goals, and suddenly he’s the new Rosicky and Ramsey we shouldn’t sell.
Fans who don’t watch his football or didn’t watch his season and read he scored 8 goals will tell you he’s ready to start for Arsenal, when he wasn’t even ready to start for Newcastle and had to be used as a super sub. Just the same way Nelson was scoring goals at Hoffeinham and was being overhyped while some of us kept saying he’s not ready for the EPL and Saka was far far ahead and more ready for the EPL than he was.
You think it’s all about scoring goals,
Nelson did it, never could be a starter and Nagelsmann told him he needed to improve his game.
Nketiah did it at Leeds, was scoring but couldn’t offer much and Bielsa preferred Bamford.
It’s Willock now, I’m glad we accepted the bid, not every kid will make it at Arsenal, and that’s completely okay. That’s one thing you guys should know.
I’m happy for him, wish him the best, but it’s time for Azeez, Latino and Hutchinson to get their own fair chance.
Good luck Willie, hope to see you succeed there.
Not
When he was a kid, Eddie.
For the record, if you read my comment in this article, I’ve only credited the management for their move to sell Willock.
But, the untrue thing about Willock being just a super-sub must stop. He is definitely more than just a super-sub.
The only crime Willock committed to be termed a super-sub is just because he scored in all of his three substitute appearances. People conveniently forget that he scored another 5 in just 11 starts from midfield, figures that shall put our entire forward line to shame.
Willock made a goal scoring debut at NUFC and started the next few matches when he didn’t score. Subsequently, he was dropped to the bench and was brought in as a sub in the next three matches, barring their game against Burnley. He managed to score in all three sub appearances against those three teams that finished above us in the league table last season – Spurs, WestHam and Liverpool.
Willock earned back his place in the starting line-up for the final four matches in the league and continued his scoring streak. He played the full 90 minutes in two of those games and was subbed off during the final 5 and 15 minutes in the other two games and finished the season as a GUARANTEED STARTER, at least at Newcastle United.
Anyone who follows football for a few years will know without a doubt that player selection is purely based on their most recent form and not on the numbers they’ve delivered in the past. Willock didn’t deliver anything in the past seasons and nowhere near what Saka and ESR did for us last season. But, his recent form deserves a look-in.
What is that ESR has delivered? Nothing player is based on goals he has contributed as a starter or sub so non of arsenal midfielders has outshine Willock neither Saka or ESR. Judge a player by the field performance not by appearance. Many fans of arsenal has that habit of underating player. But perfomance speaks for itself. We had Walcott who could score even 8 plus goals when fit from midfield he scored several hat tricks..was underrated has compared to Willian with only 1 goal per whole season.
Not surprised by anything Arteta or Edu do anymore.
We have problems with goals from midfield, so they sell the one that scores.
Why bother coaching him up when you can buy another?
Arteta is a checkbook manager and “coach” is just a title.
I love how we have “progressed” under Arteta these 20 months, tactics, direct passing, movement off the ball.
“Arsenal DNA” is clear to see. Especially the part about developing stars and not buying them.
Trust the process
@Dirand- I am finding it very difficult to disagree with anything you have posted lately. Arteta is under pressure and he will be judged after Spuds at home. Then is the time the club must act because if we don’t have a system and platform that at least resembles a “process” then what’s it all been about?
@Durand
Sorry mate
Durand, so impressed with your unyielding posting campaign today…keep it coming full bore
Phil and RVL
Thank you for the comments; I appreciate you taking the time to read them, think on them, and express your response.
I try my best to remain consistent and apply “standards” evenly among the 3 managers. Standards the club put forth, not me.
However, Arteta gets a pass, gets more control and funding, yet never held accountable.
Even now, what is he measured by? Top 6 or else? Another Cup or else?
Clearly they avoid any goals so regardless of results they can claim “progress,” or the “process” is working.
Do you happen to know what the process is? Is it working or not? How would anyone know?
Wilock scored 7 goals in 7 appearance because Newcastle play more attacking games compared to Arsenal who base of those build up games. Several Player brought in Arsenal who could shot from far distance but deemed on reaching Arsenal
If Arsena’s promising future players like Willock are been sold hope we don’t regret it like Martinez to Aston Villa. I hope Arteta and Edu are making right decision. The sale of S. Gnabry still hunts us.
Let’s keep our fingers cross and see the midfielder they buy with Willock sale. Then I will know what to say on Arteta. Arsena already lost two pre season games to top teams. That doesn’t give us positive reason into the new season.
Enough with Martinez, if we need him we should re-sign, how much did Chelsea sell Lukaku? How much are they buying him back now, same with Pogba, not every player will perform with their parent clubs
Credit where it’s due.
For once our management is truly acting on their promises. According to them, the futures of players must be sorted out when they enter the final two years of their current contracts.
Willock falls into that category. If he’s not seen as a regular starter yet, it’s smart to cash-in on him right now. What good it is to the club or the player, if he’s not going to play regularly for the club.
It’s a huge gamble. Letting go of a player who is yet to reach his true potential and has recently shown flashes of brilliance. We’ll know the results in a few seasons.
I just hope the deal contains a buy-back clause or a first refusal in future sales clause. If it doesn’t, it must be considered an unpardonable and a sack-able offense of our management team by our owners.
p.s: Had he not “almost” scored a goal against Chelsea in the MIND series and had we scored at least a couple of goals in the loss against Spur, cashing in on Willock would be a “no brainer”. But, when the team is collectively struggling to score goals and in the meantime, Willock is on a red hot scoring streak, I wonder what other valid reasons/explanations our management can give the fans, other than the one I’ve already mentioned in the post, for selling Willock this summer.
I’m not surprised, he was never in MA’s plans. 20+m to go in the kitty (Oh s**t not for Ramsdale). I just hope we insert some sort of clause…
I wish him the best of luck and thank him for the memories, especially that rocket at Anfield 👌
Sky sports confirmed sue £25 mill 👌
Let’s hope we put it to good use, Rory. Not often we sell a player for that amount!
Aye fingers crossed we put it to good use and hopefully Azeez and/ or Balogun will fill the void left by willock and best of luck to him, always liked him as a player 👍
Nice one, Rory. Hope you’re keeping well, been a while since you were last on here 🙂
Aye sue took a step back from commenting and just read articles to keep informed, praying we do some good business before the window shuts 🙏 hope all is well with you 👌
Welcome back Rory! Missed your posts here. Stay safe and hopefully a good season for us ahead!
Cheers and COYG!
PS- A little worried about the playstyle from those preseason games. Reeked of last season but hope we modify that a bit on a game to game basis.
Ahh sid thank you man! Means a lot and I hope everything is good with you bud, yes pre season definitely left a lot to he desired… hopefully we can get a couple more good players in before the window shuts and then kick on, not looking too great at the moment though 🙏
what an awful sale. it’s incompetence. It’s all over the club
So how many chances does a player need in order to impress?
If he was able to do it at Newcastle, a team below us in the league, why has he not done it for The Arsenal?
Look at the way Saka and ESR took their chance and made themselves virtually impossible to drop – when has Willock EVER produced that kind of performance on a regular basis?
What on earth comparing Elneny or Xhaka has to do with Willock’s performances I fail to understand – perhaps someone could explain?
Likewise the observation that he “bleeds” Arsenal… so have many other players who also failed to make the grade.
Of course, some have come back to bite us in the bum, yet others have proved the club correct – the fact that they have been at the club and learnt their trade at our academy means nothing if the player cannot convert that wonderful opportunity into regular performances.
I am not saying that MA /EDU have got this right, but if anyone should be asking why this is, seemingly, happening, then it should be the player himself…. the reported £20,000,000 plus is a fair price for him…. and what we have done / are planning to do in the market, has nothing to do with how we evaluate the player himself.
Judge him on his Arsenal performances and I think this is a smart piece of business…. only my opinion of course.
Ken fantastic response.
I’m back and will engage in articles a lot more now though I’ve been reading silently. Now that the EPL is resuming, I’ll be engaging in discussions too.
Saka and ESR never required up to two years to show what they are capable of and yet people question why we let Willock go who hasn’t done a single thing at Arsenal since he was 17.
Also, thank you for echoing the same point, not every kid who comes out from our academy will succeed at Arsenal and there’s no shame in that and it’s not bad. Only fans will keep making it look a big deal.
Eddie, like you I wish him the very best and I’m only judging him on his Arsenal performances since AW’s days.
It could be a fantastic move for him, the fans up there certainly seem to love him.
Phil mentions some other players (below) who might also need to move on and I agree with his view on them.
How long do we wait AND how many chances do we give for the likes of Willock to stamp their authority on the field?
There have been to many articles castigating the club and it’s managers for holding on to players…. let MA do his job and see if he has made the right decisions as the season unfolds.
I am ken and disagree, he has performed well for Arsenal for a player who has only been given bit parts for us. I doubt Arteta would have played ESR if it wasnt for injury. He definitely got in by luck not foresight from the manager. I totally disagree with Willock, i have always rated him. You have never read me write anything other than support for him, even before he went to Newcastle, in fact i was very vocal, that we should have played him instead.
Do you remember how many injuries kept Willock in our side, in those time I did not see anything special. Maybe because I don’t like his style though, I didn’t see anything special ever since I have been watching him play whereas in Saka, I saw a lot of good thing in his early days enough to tell me he can excell, ESR during Wenger reign, in a few carling cups, we saw his potential
Adajim, there is more to a player’s performance: The manager’s formation, playing style, combinations in midfield have a part to play.
For instance, Aubameyang was effective in the FA cup games 2 seasons ago because we had David Luiz with a good passing range on the left. he could pick Aubameyang with a long ball who cuts in and take a shot. the ball is in the net. most of our attacking play came from the left side of the pitch that season
Willian was top quality when he was at Chelsea. Good at set piece, good pace and can dribble. This guy was in the brazilian team.
But, what happened to him when he came to Arsenal? Did he become a flop all of a sudden? Could it be down to Arteta’s negative playing style. Not allowing players to express themselves. Micro managing the players. Always shouting on the touchline who a player should pass to. No pace in our passing game.
Willock perhaps performed at New castle because of how that team played.
And that is why, when a team is performing badly, you cant sack the players, You rather sack the coach for failing to get the best out of the team.
25m for Willock is nonsense. maybe 35m pounds or keep him.
We need options in midfield. We need goals from Midfield. I felt, we should have kept Willock till January and give him a consistent run in the team.
I would have loved to see Willlock week in week out than seeing Xhaka/Elneny.
@Reggie- the point Ken says quite clearly is that Willock had plenty of opportunities to show what he could do yet never once looked a player that you would bet on making it at the club. He scored in Europa league games, but who didn’t? Was he ever really trusted enough by Wenger, Emery or Arteta in the way Saka and ESR are? Not in my mind he wasn’t and I bracket him the same as Nketiah AMN and Nelson. They all have ability but ultimately are they good enough? I just do not believe they are and Willock is the same. Will be a decent player at a lesser club but not a too 6 player at all. If he was why has no other club come in for him?
Phil, you are very good at twisting the truth and have a short memory. Who did score in the Europa league except Pepe and Willock. For crying out loud, you speak as if he has been given a chance, is 25 and has no talent. He is 21 and coming into his best years, he has not been given a chance at Arsenal. Just like Martinez! Gnabry! and Donyel Malon in the last few years.
@Reggie- the simple truth is this. Willock was never given a fair chance at Arsenal because he was not good enough. At a time when all our better young players who have come through the academy are being rewarded with contracts keeping them at the club (Balogun, ESR, Taylor-Hyde, Saka,) Willock has been deemed not to the standard. He was mostly a sub at Arsenal other than cup games, and mostly used from the bench at Newcastle.
Whichever way you look at this PAL I am not twisting facts at all.
Aston Villa offered £30m for ESR. Why did the club not sell him? Yet Arteta seems happy to accept £25m for Willock. Is this because the club rate ESR a lot higher than Willock?
If JA run a poll on who is the better prospect of ESR and Willock, who do you believe would come out on top?ESR would win by a landslide because he has proven himself a far better player and long term prospect than Willock has proved.
And if you run another pole on here which asks if it was the correct thing to sell Willock or not then that would be interesting and probably 50/50 in its answers judging by the comments.
But the fact we are trying to improve this team and squad and are prepared to keep some and let others go says what the club think. As much as I am very critical of Arteta at this time this is not something he has got wrong.
Reggie, regarding ESR, you are absolutely correct and I believe everyone knew we had a star in the making who took his chance and, like Saka, never looked back…. When has/did Willock do that and get the universal approval from the fans, media and the manager?
Willock, Pepe And Nelson were the best arsenal players in the europa league group stages last season. Willock scored goals in the europa league. Willock scored 8 goals for New castle. same number of goals scored by the Over hyped Maddison who we want to get for 100m pounds(Rodgers values Maddisson for 100m pounds)
At ken 1945
That’s a load of bullocks. Players perform in systems where they are comfortable That’s one. You mentioned Saka and Smith-Rowe but no numbers (Jon fox way). Two, name me two attacking players that perform under Arteta’s stewardship with good numbers and then we will give him the right to sell a player who just impressed on loan. Funny enough Arteta’s finds it hard to sell players coached by himself.
Jah son, you have answered your own question my friend.
The reason we are reportedly, selling him, is because he cannot play in the system that MA is wanting to play – as simple as that.
Now, we can argue that MA’s system is wrong, but that’s not the subject – why would MA keep a player who doesn’t fit his plans?
Not sure what you mean about Saka and Jon Fox, so I can’t give you a answer.
As for our forwards, couldn’t agree more…. but that hasn’t stopped Saka and ESR from performing to the highest standards and on a regular basis has it?
Likewise Martinelli and look how Pepe has improved under MA.
Surely, MA is doing what he said he would do and he will be judged on the outcome… meanwhile Willock will prove his worth and I wish him the very best.
Ken, how old was he and isn’t he maturing player wise and physically? You and I have seen that the winning Arsenal teams under Bertie Mee, George Graham and Arsene Wenger were based on a strong core of home grown talent. Arsenal does not have the funds to buy a title.
If the money is offered Saka and Smith Rowe are gone too. Must run the Club as a business, stay in the EPL and win nothing, because the cost/benefit is not there.
Great post Ozzie!
OG, but are you saying then, that if we keep Willock (the only subject of this article) we have a chance of winning the PL?
Just because he’s homegrown, doesn’t come into the equation…. it’s all about his talent and if he produces on a consistent level.
I believe the answer is in the negative.
Nothing to do with profit etc etc just what the player has achieved under three different managers with three different styles…. simple as that for me.
Ken, just like Liam “Chippy” Brady considered Harry Kane, not good enough when he was a youngster. The age that Joe Willock earned first team places with those Arsenal managers surely indicates that he had ability. The fact that he didn’t “pull up trees”, maybe wasn’t necessarily due to the system they wanted to play, but that he was still developing.
Looking forward to see Willock’s progression under Steve Bruce and how many goals Arsenal scores this season in total and from midfield under Mikel Arteta’s “system”. By the way, this “system” produced a total of 55 goals in 2020/21. I hope “boring Arsenal” does not continue or the Emirates will either be an empty” library” or torn down.
Yes agree again Ozzie.
It looks like JW didn’t fit in Arteta’s system. He’s not a wing and he doesn’t play as one of the 2 base CMs in the 4-2-3-1 that Arsenal’s playing now, or as a 10 when ESR’s not playing. He’s also best suited for a counter attacking side, which Arsenal really isn’t.
The sale makes sense based on this.
The question really is, are Arsenal suited for this system?
Arteta’s trying to make them so. Maybe that is the problem.
Once there were 3 (Willocks at Arsenal) and now there are none!
Just like I’ve said and as Someone here pointed out earlier; the philosophy at Arsenal differs from that of Newcastle hence the style play.
At Arsenal Willock will be expected to pass the ball around (include those through balls and final passes) and be creative. This is in contrast with what is expected of him in the ‘smash and grab’ style at New castle that allows his to score from no where.
Does he have those ball playing abilities and skill set needed from the kind of CAM needed by Arsenal?
As far as I know he has struggled when trusted with these responsibilities at Arsenal.
I stand to be corrected.
*him
And score 55 goals in a season. That’s really going to draw crowds to the Emirates. People need to look back at how many goals Arsenal scored when they were called “boring Arsenal”. It was a lot more than 55.
No one has given Arteta and Edu for bringing in cheaper and better alternatives. Lokonga is better than Willock and can fill in whatever role Willock would have been fulfilling as a sub. He is a player that can play box to box, so to me I believe Willock already has a more than capable alternative. I’m happy with the deal, 20m+ is a good deal. Nketiah next for 20m add a little and go for Madison or Bernardo Silva if truly available and willing to come. I’m not too sure about Laturo, a player who is not a regular starter for Inter. We simply don’t need such luxurious toys now. I’ll rather gamble on Aubameyang rediscovering his form. COYG!!
‘given Arteta and Edu credit’
Time will tell.
And time will tell if JW continues to develop or just had an incredible purple patch and Arsenal sold at the right moment. I tend to agree with Jay, Lokongo is better suited to our style and looks to have at least as much upside as JW. I also think we’ll all feel better by the time the window closes and we’ve made one or two more signings to complete the picture.
Sometimes I asked my self that is arsenal team really that poor to the extent that we could not create any chances or we started playing boring football? Auba was the highest goal scorer in bundelsliga, one of the prolific goal scorer during arsene Wenger time, won the highest goal scorer during Emery first season and his full first season, second highest goal scorer during Arteta half season, won us fa cup ( when arteta said that he would have to move all unwanted players). Then during Arteta first full season, he bought Party( one of the best midfielders in laliga and was man of the match player against Liverpool in champions league), he bought Gabriel( one of the best defenders in ligue 1 and help his formal club to gain champions league). Suddenly, Auba became useless even to control ball becomes problem, Gabriel and Party became average. Before Saka and Smith Rowe became Arsenal most youth prospect, Martinelli was our best youth( scoring 10 goals in a season during Emery period), everybody was praying that Saliba loan should end on time in order to unleash our jewel but 3 seasons now he has never wore played for us… Arteta said he was not ready but with just half season In ligue one, he was nominated as one of the best defenders in ligue1, his friend and partner Fofana was integrated immediately in Leicester and has been one of their best defenders since his arrival.
A case study, when Lampard spent almost 250m in a season and was playing clueless football ( like arsenal now) their board changed him immediately with a more experience and ambitious coach and we all know what happened. So my question is that is that arsenal team or players are so poor or the coach tactics and techniques are bad because this is a team that beat Chelsea home and away, didn’t loose against manutd, shared 3 points against tot, even though we lost at home against Leicester but retaliate in the second leg with a good goal diff but lost miserably against Aston villa( home and away), wolves(home and away), Liverpool ( home and away with their weak form last season), man city( home and away), Everton( home and away) and also lost against Burnley could not win crystalpalace ( first leg), Fulham( 2nd leg when we need the point most)….. A lot of things have to be checked in the coach tactics and techniques….. I can’t say Auba is now off until I see him fail with until I see it with more experience and ambitious coach because that was what we said about mikhi and we saw what happened when he got to Roma, we taught Girroud is finished until he denied us European trophy and won champions league too….
I have been asking myself this very question…. you just spoke my mind
Wale 👍
👍 Wale, 55 goals last season says it all and it wasn’t “1-0 to the Arsenal”!
Selling Martinez for 20m was one of most brain dead negotiations done by Arsenal. Like seriously just 20m after the way he performed, lol.
25m for wilock is not bad but nothing to boast about in terms of conducting business.
Buy high sell low is becoming Arsenal’s motto.
If Martinez had been on a long term contract we could probably have gotten more for him
Pity, our management deemed him not worthy of extending his contract when he entered into his final two years of his current contract as per their policy.
I wonder if we would have got half that 20 mils if we have sold Martinez in the summer when he entered his final two years, even though he had two years left in his contract.
The truth is Vasc if our manager and director of football had seen that Martinez was by far the best keeper at the time, they could have sold Leno and kept Martinez and given him a new contract. But they chose badly, very badly. We are keeping an over paid underpeforming over the hill Willian and selling Willock. It explains everything about this clubs philosophy and why we are behind the likes of Leicester.
Leno was injured and Emi was making demands that no manager go give in to. Emi had sale value and Leno did not.
I still wonder what qualifications / credentials Edu has to be the Technical Director at Arsenal, except his bit-part role in our Invincible season.
Even with 2 years 20m was pretty low, of course relatively speaking.
Now selling Wilock for just 25m is just terrible.
Now Arsenal should take the money from Willock & buy Aouar!😹
Except they’ll buy Ramsdale.
Willock and Iwobi are similar players they can only show the glimpse of potential once in a while, wilock had free role in Newcastle team which he can’t have here, remove his goal from his overall performances in Newcastle shirt u could see there is nothing remain, tho football is all about scoring and assisting but I don’t see him continue that goal scoring for long and if he do, that doesn’t mean he is going to do it in our shirt…. We don’t av much matches this season every matches are important and no way we could be addressing some texting on the run….. Lingard had same run of goal last season and if United fail to sold him this season I swear they are going to regret it as well …..
On Martinez issue he wanted to leave and he had only one year in his contract and u expect us to sit down and b looking and do nothing about it……. Chelsea sold Debrune,lukaku,Salah and co
United sold pogba and bought it back football is a gamble no one is 100% perfect… they moved on cos if they try to give them chances then it will hinder them and affect the team as well…..when u are a big team u need more of readymade than from ur academy…… Liverpool mancity Chelsea United don’t really expected much from academy if they come fine and if they don’t they find means….. U could go and check how many promising players Chelsea are letting go this season? they accept offers on them since they won’t av chance to showcase their potential rather than letting them spoil on the bench it better they go elsewhere, shine and give team some cash….. nothing special abt that …….95% of those fans clamoring for retaining wilock has abuses those mangers given him chances then…. His Newcastle loan was blessing for us to get cash let’s take it and thank God
Next Ramsey? I don’t want I want Next Casorla,Fab,Henry,viera and beckamp
Funny enough, I see saka, lokonga, ESR relegated to the bench if maddison is signed… apparently auba laca Pepe seem to be the first choice 3, except for occasions auba plays CF…
So to be frank…Nketiah,Saliba,guendouzi,Nelson,AMN,Willock should be looking at saving their careers from the disastrous clueless pundit that parades himself as our manager….
I Wish willock success like EMI… Arsenal will survive this dark period
@insrumantal pls how could Madison signing is going to relegate Saka and Lokonga and on ESR is it bad to have 2 attacking midfielder in team that want to fight for top 4 …….go check other top team and see how many players they av at each position…… Don’t think like a team pursuing top ten na
It’s not bad having two good players for each position but a top manager is key to successful management of game time which arteta always fails at….
it’s not a coincidence that a lot of our young players have complained at one point or the other….
I ask?? Wud saka bench an in-form Pepe at the moment, or martinelli bench auba, flo bench laca ,lokonga bench partey, ESR bench maddison If he’s signed….and the fact that our manager is poor at making changes during games.
The major fear for me now, is the fact that non of our prized assets are unsellable…even a 45m bid for saka might get their attention, All villa needed to do was biz around 45-50m ESR wud have been long gone….
It’s quite sad that our talented young players are being sold when the rookie manager is the problem
Good luck to Willock.
20+ mil for an academy graduate who was only on the fringes of the first team is great value for arsenal. It’s a shame we didn’t do the same for AMN to Wolves last year. Hopefully Eddie and Reiss can move on for good money as well so we can make our starting eleven stronger.
It makes a change us getting some good money for once.
Congratulations to Gouendouzi and Saliba winning with Marseille away last night, both playing 90 mins and apparently Saliba was a rock. Didn’t see it but both players will get CL football as well.
Reggie, we are dealing with people who wouldn’t know a good footballer if they tripped over one.
Loan or sell players better than the “wannaways” the Club keeps. Strengthen areas and neglect higher priorities elsewhere. Go on holidays in Majorca, when the transport window is open., Olympic football is on and you could be talking to your Brazilian countryman Bruno Guimaraes. As for Mikel Arteta, last season Houssem Aouar was priced at £50+ million and Arteta wanted him; now Lyon need money and he is going for £20+ million, but no apparent interest. Yves Bissouma want Arsenal, but no apparent interest. Arteta and Edu could have done a package deal for Aouar and Guimaraes from Lyon, but procrastinate.
I was hopeful that Richard Garlick would make a difference, but am being disappointed.
Unfortunately, the fans and supporters are the only ones who care, but many appear to accept the spin and drift to mediocrity.
MG also played well apparently, Reggie.
Agree 100% Ozzie and Sue.
But that has NOTHING to do with Willock has it?
Deflecting away from the article in order, it seems, to strengthen your viewpoint, is pointless.
What has An ex keeper and players sent out on loan to do with this article?
Ken it was a reply to someone earlier, highlighting that mistake after mistake keep being made and i think this is just a continuation of the incompetence that has crept into this club.
Ken, for you, of all people, to even suggest such a notion is freaking hilarious
#wagthedog #potcallingthekettle
If Madison comes to replace Xhaka that would be constructive but Arteta loves Xhaka and only leaves him out for injury. He is like Wenger trying to mould players into his system rather than changing his system to get the best from his players. he will drop anyone to keep Xhaka in his team.
I think Xhaka and Arteta are similar players , neat tidy , just above average but not overly special . I think he sees himself in the Swiss but don’t be fooled by the Euro performances remember the sideways passing , slow reacting , poor tackling player that has turned out for us.
I don’t think he was ever in MA’s long term plans anyway so a move to Newcastle is probably in his best interests. I have a feeling that he wants this move and I wish him all the best for the future but with a tinge of sadness.
Yippee! Now lets sell ESR and Saka too and while we are at it, Martinelli as well to get some 60 70 million each and then repay the loan we took, lol.
On a serious note though, Willock seemed more marketable than the 20 million the broke tyneside club are offering us. His B2B qualities and eye for goal were apparent ever since he started playing for us. So if we are selling, I hoped for a more meaty price of 30-35 Million rather than the chump change being agreed upon. Willock had a better season than Iwobi had when we sold him for God’s sake!
Sid, you may be closer to the truth than you think. If aplropriate offers come in, those players are gone. However, you can only sell the family silver once, unless you believe Hale End is an endless conveyor belt.
Arsenal fans are absolutely delusional now.. I guess if you lose too much it affects your psyche.. buy Aouar buy Maddison buy Odegaard.. oh fuck don’t sell Willock he is Martinez 2.0 please.. it’s just total confusion and I believe it is the constant failures that has forced the fans to reason fantasies.. ask yourself how many players do we need and how do we get them.. by selling folks come on y’all remember of Liverpool fans when they were losers..
Long gone the days when Man City or Barca or Chelsea were coming to wave cheque books at our world beaters. Now it’s who might we be able to off load to raise a contactless few quid.
From the comments here, i think most fans just want Arteta out and it doesn’t matter what he does. Yes, Willock is the only goal scoring midfielder we have at Arsenal, but if we are to challenge for major honors, i don’t think he is the one to do it for us in midfield. Let us remember, Willock has been given chances way before the likes of Saka and ESR. Let us not forget how he performed when given those chances. Yes he has the potential, but maybe not the potential to make it at Arsenal. I would cash in on Willock and wish him luck.
20 mill for willock is good business any day any time.
His performance in an Arsenal shirt do not justify anything else more than that. Secondly he is not in MA plans why keep a player Who is not in your system. Thirdly playing style. The system at Newcastle suits him better than Arsenal style so why not just take him to where he can thrive easily. Lastly Willock is an average player nothing short of a Championship caliber player (not world-class at all). We don’t expect more special quality than what we have seen from such a player so let’s happily take the 20 and another 40/60 from AMN Nketiah, Bellerin or kolasinac and get a creative midfielder, to get the balls in the net and assist our CF’s. We cannot keep everyone and buy everyone we have to let go. 60% will agree with me. Wish the lad well.
In years of watching and playing football many good things have come by accident . injuries , suspensions etc have caused managers to alter course and suddenly found combinations that have worked better than the original . If Arteta is so one minded that he cannot change a style to suit then he falls into the same trap as Wenger did in his latter years.
It was rumoured at the time that Wenger wanted to lose Wright because of his style but realised that it was a mistake . I just hope that Arteta will not regret losing Willock because he can’t see a way to utilise him.
The boy has demonstrated that he has the knack of making runs into the box that players like Ramsey and before him Platt made . Neither were great passers and were not silky ball playing passers of the ball but their goalscoring contribution was extremely handy.
👍
Yet Ramsey wasn’t good enough for some of those who now want Willock to stay!!!.
It seems the price is now a reported £25,000,000 by the way.
see above
I wouldn’t have minded keeping Joe & hope there’s a huge resale percentage included to that 22m sale fee because 25m really should have been the minimum threshold.
If the money allows to bring in a Madisson or another strong CM then it’s fine.
Joe had a great half season woth Newcastle but never really performed for us.
Could that loan have warranted another chance in the squad? I’d say so.
But a look at Maitland-Niles shows that sometimes it’s better to sell when there’s a temporary spike in value for a younsgter as most never will make it in the main team.
In this market, we’ll be lucky to get 10-12m for Maitland-Niles this Summer and in hindsight should have bitten Wolves’ hand when they offered 20m.
So yeah, 22m is low-ish but as long as this allows for a better player to come to Arsenal, it still could be the right move.
That’s a good decision. He’s not good enough for Arsenal
That’s the way Arteta does business, selling good player and keep players like Aubameyang who is finished. He did it on Emi and he kept Leno for the reason we don’t know. Emi proved himself that he is better than leno during the time Leno was injured bt Arteta didn’t see the good in Emi
About the right decision in my opinion, his stocks are currently high and he is not going to start in an Arsenal starting 11. Firstly Joe is an 8 and not a 10 in my opinion, and I base that on the way in plays the game. The 6 & the 8 is the heart of the mid-field. I don’t care if the mid-field don’t score any goals as long as they ensure that we have a high ball possession rate doesn’t matter if we are playing City, Liverpool or Brentfort. We can’t only achieve that if our mid-field is strong on the feet, fast enough and will good skills. If means that we will keep the ball, take the ball away for other teams and move the ball fast with one of the highest pass accuracy rate in the league. The end result will be a defensive line with less work and a front line with plenty and quick opportunities. That is how you won games again any team in the league to make top 4 and later even wining it. Not just sit with good players like Xhaka, Elneny and Joe, you end result is mid-table my friend.
Now here is my prediction for Joe his season, doesn’t matter where he is going to play, he will not score at the rate he did the last 6 months, his ball possession rate will not be close to any of the mid-fielders of the top 4 teams at the end of the season. For 25 mil, this will turn out to be good business for Arsenal