Do you think Arsenal should bring back Joe Willock or cash in this summer?

Does Joe Willock has a future at Arsenal?

Joe Willock has torn Tyneside apart since his loan move from Arsenal. The Englishman has scored six goals in his 12 appearances for Newcastle United.

He has netted the joint second-most goals for Steve Bruce’s side this season. But the intriguing thing is that he was not a Newcastle player for the entirety of the first half of the season.

The 21-year-old’s ‘minutes per goal’ ratio at St. James Park is superior than the second best Callum Wilson, who is the top-scorer for the Toons. Willock has found the net every 134 minutes for Newcastle, while Wilson has done it every 184 minutes.

His shot accuracy and conversion rate is also clearly better than his new teammates. Both those numbers stand at 46% and 77%.

By no means whatsoever his goals have come against teams in the bottom-half of the league. Willock has now already scored against the likes of Tottenham, Liverpool, West Ham United, Leicester City and more recently against Manchester City.

There is one thing in common among those teams mentioned above. All are either fighting to play in Europe or they are already one of the best teams in Europe.

Thus, scoring against teams of such high caliber will only increase the Arsenal loanee’s stock come summer.

The first deciding factor of why Willock has performed so well for The Magpies is down to their formation.

Steve Bruce like to put two strikers up front and balancing it out with five defenders. That leaves three players in the midfield area giving the formation of 5-3-2. Willock is usually tasked to cover the spaces between the right-wing back and the central defensive midfielder. But with three center-backs already covering his back, the 21-year-old has license to join the team upfield.

With his athleticism, he also falls back to provide a pillar of support to the Newcastle backline. Even though he has played as a ‘central midfielder’ for Newcastle, he hasn’t actually been at the center.

And that’s why he has looked so dangerous. Arriving late in the penalty box (his goal against Sp*rs), involving himself in a counter attack (his goal against Leicester) and then finishing of a team move by scoring a late equalizer at Anfield.

Willock has done it all in his time at St. James Park.

This is a player who will definitely be a ‘priority signing’ for Newcastle United.

But should Arsenal cash in on him or develop him further at the Emirates Stadium? That’s the million-dollar question.

This poll which was done by The Arsenal review, at the time of writing, had 631 votes. Almost 65% of the people want to keep him.

Two fans’ opinions which are striking more or less tell us that Arsenal have a tricky situation on their hands. The first person commented, “I think his price tag will never be higher so I’d sell because realistically he’ll never be good enough for us to become the best in England and Europe which is the ultimate goal.”

The other person, who wants to keep Willock, comments, “Currently he has a skill set that we don’t have. Goals from midfield when we’re often chasing a game. Had we kept him we could well be in a Europa final.”

Both statements are somewhat true, based on how you see it. The 21-year-old has not been a player who has contributed to Arsenal massively.

In his 78 appearances for Arsenal, he only has 15 goal involvements. This is a player who made his first team debut on 15th April 2018. It has been more than three years!

Nobody can argue that he has not been given enough chances to shine. On the other end of the spectrum, players younger than him like Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, who broke the first-team scene later, have had far more goal contributions than the current Newcastle man.

Edu and Mikel Arteta have big decisions to make. If Arsenal do receive offers of around £30 million, it might be better to cash in on him and raise money for positions which the Gunners definitely need strengthening at.

Arsenal should not even enter negotiations with clubs who value him less than 20 million. If the Red and White are unable to get the ‘true value’ of him this summer, extending his contract and then either giving him first-team opportunities or loaning him out might be the best solution.

Whatever they end up doing, they need to be ruthless. They need to prove that this is a club that is active not passive.

Yash Bisht

Tags Newcastle Willock

40 Comments

  1. If a club offers 40+ M, sell him. Otherwise offer him a new contract and make him compete with Smith-Rowe, since he prefers to be in the front line like Ramsey

  2. Leave Joe alone. He’s much better off up north. Arteta would only ruin him. You can see what JW is capable of under a real coach like Steve Bruce.

    1. Yes I agree.

      “You can see what JW is capable of under a real coach” – his performance there support your statement. He was here before he went there wasn’t he? If our fine manager couldn’t get the best out of him then how can we be sure he will do so in the future?

      So much for being credited to rejuvenate some city players. One would be forgiven to think he would’ve done same here.

    2. Not good enough, have been given enough chances by Emery and Arteta for a young player. I do not see the quality which should be in a young player at a big club. You don’t need to go far to see Nelson, Eddie and Willock are not on same level as the other gifted youngsters we are seeing in not only our club but other top 6 clubs. It is a good time, he has done well at Newcastle so we can get good price for him now then him flopping again we getting peanuts for selling him.

      1. Lol Ha ha ha
        Could anyone of our players score against Liverpool, city?
        Sell him, so that Arteta and Edu buys other flops like Cedric, Willian, Runarsson or Ceballos.

        1. Ken, I am not saying he can not score against city and Liverpool. I am saying he is not on the same level as Saka, ESR, Foden, Mason etc etc. They are all young but you can see they posses something that Willock, Nelson and Eddie have not. I agree on second part of your comment Edu and Arteta will surely find a way to blow the money on some useless or finished players.

    3. Nothing will ever changed with arsenal,it’s a curse,a real curse,the man “KROENKE” is a curse to Arsenal football club.They DON’T ARSENAL youths to breath.Arsenal football club needs a spiritual cleansing because there’s a huge spell and dark cloud over that,organisation.The CLUB BELONGS to the new world order or “ILLUMINATI” KROENKE IS “SATAN” i saw this long time ago 2011 and i stopped buying anything of Arsenal.Until KROENKE is GONE THINGS will change but even after The “DEVIL” is gone to hell you’ll need a real spiritual cleansing to do.I’ll would’ve been dead like the LEGENDARY CLAUDE but The lord “Jesus christ”Saved me,and helped me from becoming a stronger person,from mental health,because of the love of Arsenal.I Support arsenal with my head not my heart.It’ll get worse next season.KROENKE IS “SATAN” it’s the truth and i have no regrets saying this because it’s the truth,and I’ve nothing TO lose by saying these.KROENKE IS worse than a poor person.If God bless a person to be wealthy, it’s to bless others with what God has given you.That’s a man who can’t keep a “MASCOT”and he says he’s BILLIONAIRE? THE MONEY IS GOING TO SATAN HIS MASTER.”BANDIT”Now you can come and hang me.This COUNTRY GREAT Britain is a country for CIVILISED and generous kind people i feel sorry for your soul.yes you can sell every body at ARSENAL.YOU WITCH!

        1. I need an interpreter just to even know what he said TBH before I can even answer your question Adpat

        2. Hi Admin Pat, I want to be writing on Arsenal news kindly how can I get access? Kindly advice.

          1. Hi,
            simply send me your article (See “Contact Us” at bottom of this page) and I will have a look at it…

        3. Jose, by the looks of it does not have English as his first language, but is obviously passionate in his thoughts. He should be cut some slack.

    4. How about we keep Joe and hire Bruce? Imagine what Bruce could do with the rest of the squad!

  3. Basically I think im the idle of the park we have no one better than willock bar ESR. One in cam and one im CM. Willock is obviously better than cebellos so would be an upgrade. More dynamic than xaka and elneny is not really attacking so for a partner for TP I think willock is the obvious choice. He can then also cover ESR where needed.

    The only way we should sell him is if we can get a much better proven CM in. Aside from that it makes no sense to sell him as xaka and elneny are average at best

  4. At the moment Arsenal are said to value Willock at between £25 and £30m.
    A valuation which comes off the back of fairly consistent performances and scoring a few goals for Newcastle…whilst on loan.
    That said he certainly hasn’t been starting every game in a very mediocre Newcastle side.
    This would indicate that he would fulfill a similar role for Arsenal in future…as nothing more than a squad player!
    A return to Arsenal so that he can occasionally warm the bench (bearing in mind he won’t get added game time in Europe this coming Season as we won’t be there!)…would consequently lead to a substatial decline in his market value.
    It,therefore,makes perfect sense to cash in now.Although I don’t believe that Arsenal would get offered anything more than £15-20m at the most.In a difficult market it would probably make sense to sell him for a useful sum of money now and attach a “sell-on” clause where Arsenal would get a good percentage of any future sales too.

  5. Talking ruthless is one thing acting ruthless is another thing altogether. For a start all but Luiz and the two RM loanees have rock solid ‘cant force me to leave’ contracts and all are on substantial Arsenal salaries.
    If clubs are going to pay a fee they are likely to slash the players salary.
    Players spurred on by their agents are going to say I will run down my contract and get a full value salary by leaving on a free. Torreira Kolasinac Guendouzi Saliba Niles Willock Willian Nketia Nelson Elneny Lacazette Bellerin Chambers Cedric Mari will be in no hurry to leave their comfortable Arsenal life style untill they can leave on a free and get another big salary.
    Arsenal also needs 8 home grown players which include Chambers Holding Bellerin Niles Nelson Willock Nketiah.
    Guendouzi is probably the most likely to be sold but why would any club pay for a player with a known attitude problem especially as they can wait one year and get him on a free.
    Mavropanos the same run his contract down for a big salary and clubs will just wait till next season to get him on a free also.
    And there is sweet FA Arsenal can do about it.

  6. Will keep
    He’s better than Ceballos who gets a lot of chances but contribute nothing

    Only Arteta knows why Ceballos should play even ahead of Elneny

  7. I don’t think it’s about money really, if we keep him he needs game time, if he’s not going to get that then we should sell him on so that he can get that somewhere else

    I like Willock, it’s not about what he’s done at Newcastle, he is still our top goal scorer from a true midfield position alongside Elneny, admittedly mostly from the early Europa games against some inferior opponents

    I must admit I was hoping at the start of this season we would give all of our youngsters a good go, Saka, Joe, Eddie, Ainsley, Reiss, ESR, Martinelli, Guendouzi and Saliba, all on the pitch at the same time in most of the games, obviously that would have been a gamble, it didn’t happen for a number of different reasons but we would have found out more about them and arguably in hindsight we could only have ended up worse if that had led to relegation, but who knows it might have clicked and we may have been a lot better at this stage

  8. I would sell him before Arteta reduces him to rubble. Watching how Arteta has interfered with many of our players to their, and our detriment, is like watching a sad, farcical, Carry On film. William Saliba treated abysmally, yet Wesley Fofana, who was often his understudy or partner has just won the cup final. Matteo Guendouzi shipped out, yet Granit Xhaka, who at the time had a worse attitude, kept. Lucas Torreira just discarded. We let Aaron Ramsey go, and we had the whole Ozil fiasco. Then the AMN fiasco. Then worst of all he sold Martinez. Every supporter could see Martinez was better than Leno. Arteta seems smooth with explanations, but a big ‘I am’ ego merchant in actions. He seemed to have a need to discredit many of Unai Emery’s choices. If we keep Arteta, we are keeping a man who has no relationship capabilities with his own players, and micro manages from the touchline, like a Psycho, driving the creativity out of the players. Arteta is so inexperienced and unable to change, that he is quite capable of severely damaging this club even more. The owner and the board don’t care. He must be replaced.

    1. Got to give you credit Sean for your sheet stamina in berating Arteta whenever the opportunity arises.As to the topic raised in the article what actually are your considered views on Joe Willock, his strengths and weaknesses, potential for further development etc.What is he worth in your opinion? Any other constructive thoughts on the player under review?

    2. I agreed with everything you said except….every fans can see Martinez is better….. In my eyes Martinez is not and has never been. He has conceded 58 goals in 51 matches , 42 of which in 35 epl matches and caused 1 error lead to goal. As I’m writing this he has conceded one against CP. This a player in more organized and stable team. While Leno has conceded 36goals in 33 epl with zero error leading to goal. We all just want to see what we want to see.

      1. I’m sorry, which of the Leno are you talking about?
        Cos the Leno I know made a mistake in a recent match against Everton
        Anyway, you might not be talking about Arsenal’s Leno

        And if you have to quote stat, quote all and stop bringing once that favours one to other.

        1.) Arsenal defence are more organise than Aston villa, that’s why we are 3rd in the league.
        2) Martinez is the 3rd most clean sheet keeper in the league. Making history in Aston villa for doing it in a single season
        3) Both made 1 error leading to goal

  9. How silly to sell him, that has been the wrong policy for Arsenal for years, Good Teams keep their best players. Not buy rubbish overpriced new ones.

    Joe Wilock is one of our great manager Arsenes
    young ones

  10. Sell him at the right price there is no better time..as you pointed out he is thriving coz the formation suits him there so why being him Back and start the round hole square peg thing that would make him ineffective?

  11. Sell him as soon as possible, hopefully for 30m . He has had enough chances at arsenal, he’s good enough for Newcastle but not arsenal. Saying that the likes of Luiz, Wilian, xhaka, bellerin, nketiah, and elneny need to too leave to .

  12. I have to say the comments section today is really really first class.

    Massive massive props out to both Jose Achu and Sean Williams.
    Every single word that both of you wrote is 1000% accurate to the letter and I have written similar or almost the same dozens of times on various sites..

    (ADMIN COMMENT – The comments section is usually very good mate, but if you were a regular reader you would know that swearwords are not allowed ever – along with any personal abuse.

    Your comment may have been interesting to other readers, but with so many profanities they will never be approved….)

  13. Sell while the Cake is still hot and popular.

    I have seen enough of Willock and he is a Newcastle typr or a current mid table Arsenal kind of player.

    If we want to try to get back into the big times then the majority of our current players need to go. They are a 6th – 10th place level type of plyer at their best.

  14. Anyone willing to splash north of 20m is delusional in my books so if such an offer comes then sell sell sell

  15. Joe Willock in his time at Newcastle United, playing under Manager Steve Bruce (not known for his expansive attacking play) has scored more goals than the combined efforts of all Arsenal midfielders this season.
    Lack of goals from midfield has been a major issue for Arsenal for a number of seasons. Therefore Joe Willock should be nurtured, not benched.
    If Arsenal is not prepared to offer him game time, then his career should be pursued elsewhere. Hopefully the current management doesn’t waste the money obtained from his sale!

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