Youngster tipped to be a key member of the Arsenal first team

Arsenal has, for many years, been the team that hands first-team chances to youngsters.

The likes of Cesc Fabregas have been allowed to flourish from a very young age and they have gone on to make a name for themselves.

Bukayo Saka also broke into the club’s first team as a teenage star and he is one of their key players now, despite being just 19.

Joe Willock is another top player that is currently at the club and Kevin Campbell believes that the England Under 21 star has a bright future at the Emirates.

Willock has been a part of the first team since Mikel Arteta has been the club’s manager.

The youngster is still yet to be a regular, but Campbell admires him a lot and he is confident that the midfielder will break into the team and become a key member of the squad eventually.

“I am a big fan of Willock’s but the team is not playing well enough to make life easy for him,” he told Football Insider.

“If a young player comes into a team that is playing well it makes life a lot easier. He did OK at best. You need him to be coming into a team that is performing and Arsenal are not at the races right now.

“I think Willock has a huge future in football.

“He is a rare gem. There are very few midfielders like him who run in behind and take a chance. He makes a centre-forward’s life easy.

“It will take a bit of time for him to get used to first-team football but once he does, he will be a very, very important for Arsenal.”   

Tags Joe Willock Kevin Campbell

11 Comments

  1. I hope so, he needs guidance and he needs trust. The experienced players around him are not doing a lot, he and his younger promising team mates need to be trusted more. Our best players so far Saka, Tierney, Gabriel and from the EL Willock are all the younger elements of our squad. Arteta needs to be true and play players who are giving more.

  2. On Sunday I saw a player who didn’t seem convinced of his own talent. He seemed hesitant even when he was making promising runs. Not surprising given his lack of prime time but will be challenging to give him the exposure to develop at Arsenal. Especially once fans are welcome back at Emirates. We aren’t the most patient of fans.

  3. Willock has real potential and can develop in the mould of Cessc or Petit. But the main point is he should be given more game time by Arteta, show trust and confidence in the young man and help him in his development. He certainly has a great future at Arsenal.

  4. Willock is great, the senior players around him were shambles against Leeds, willock had 2/3 players around him every time he had the ball and our senior players never saw that’s as an opportunity to run in space,

    Arteta needs to unleash Folarin, Smith-Rowe, he needs to mix this guys with the experienced guys, we need raw and confident talents to boost our already broken team,

    Nelson and saka lifted the team against Leeds, we need more open minds like them to lift spirits.

  5. I’m sorry I’ll be real, Willock is average. He won’t be world class so dont get your hopes up.

    Not every promising youngster coming into the first team will amount to something, its childish to think every youngster will, especially one of Willocks caliber, there’s nothing special about how he plays, his mentality, or anything.

  6. Sorry but don’t see anything special about the lad. Not every youngster has a bright future. Saka and Martinelli are rare gems, ESR has a better chance of being something special.
    Willock can be a sub or rotation player, nothing at all wrong with that. Teams need role players and depth, think that’s a likely future for Willock.

  7. Willock is neither “average” nor” great” as two wildly differing posts above both wrongly claim. He is promising but not yet fully ready for a regular Prem place. He is improving but you cannot hurry his natural improvement pace. Time and patience are called for and as wiser fans know, neither of those qualities are in demand by most younger impatient fans. Sigh!

    1. No, just accept that he’s average. Great players have always showed great promise at young ages, Rooney, Henry, Giggs, Ronaldo etc.

      Willock is way below his age group isbterms of talent and let alone promise.

      He’s going to be a squad player at best, us waiting for him to become something he’s not will make us waste opportunities for others who deserve them

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