According to The Athletic, Newcastle United are on the verge of signing Joe Willock in a deal that could net Arsenal more than £20 million.
The Magpies made the England under-21 international their number one target after he impressed on loan in the second half of the season and they’ve finally come up with an offer deemed too good to turn down.
Willock was absent from Arsenal’s squad for today’s 1-0 defeat to Sp*rs at White Hart Lane and Mikel Arteta subsequently set tongues wagging when he said he wasn’t yet able to shed light on why that was the case.
During a summer when we’ve struggled to offload players (and already spent more than £70 million) it’s a deal that Arsenal fans will begrudgingly agree makes sense. Having had a taste of regular football at St James Park, Willock was never going to settle for long spells on the bench at the Emirates this season.
While it’s always sad to see an academy graduate leave for pastures new, it’s decent money that hopefully we can reinvest.
You just know we are going to spend the money on Ramsdale haha
Downvoted purely because I hope you’re wrong. But you’re probably right.
To make up for Emi’s sale last year… Hope we won’t come to regret this one as much!
Appreciate that Joe is basically the victim of us not being able to get any decent money for guys like Xhaka, Elneny etc.. but I think selling him and keeping those two, especially giving Granit an extension is absolutely shocking business for me. In my opinion, Joe should only be going if we are clearing out everyone in that department. We shouldn’t be keeping some of the senior pros that have consistently been really poor for a long period of time that are never going to get better, over a young driven hardworking academy prospect who would probably deliver a… Read more »
Unfortunately this is reality kicking in. You can’t force other clubs to buy the players you no longer want.
You can cut your losses and take what you get. Buying Xhaka was a bad decision, playing Xhaka was a worse decision, continuing to pay him is just sunk cost fallacy.
Really? Chelsea do it every year.
Exactly.
Force? We had a £12M deal on the table for Xhaka and we opted not to take it. I’ve seen some laughable statements from Arsenal fans saying it was too cheap, and it’s like.. what player have you been watching the last 5 years at Arsenal? He’s been so poor and hugely underwhelming for pretty much his entire stint at the club. He was also a guy we purchased for £30M so what? People think he’s worth more than £12M? It’s laughable — I’d say Roma gave us market value for him. There’s no way we were ever going to… Read more »
12m euros IS peanuts for Xhaka .. you would have to spend 3x that to find an equal replacement .You may not like him but everyone at the club does in players and management . He is the player who starts most games for us . Availability is a huge factor because again regardless what YOU think about Xhaka he does more good things than bad things and had his best season for us. We cant be selling starters for peanuts , Joe Willock is not a starter for us and we have struggled to fit him into our team… Read more »
I don’t care if its peanuts. Not taking it is going to cost us more than 6m quid and we continue to shape our whole midfield around a deeply flawed player who the manager is obsessed with. This decision represents the opposite of change and change is what we need. If we hand him a new contract we are a complete comedy of a team – hay can you do bit laugh. The alternative is to depressing. This season looks very concerning… Be excited though.
So true, at what point do we have to cut our losses? Our midfield needed a total rethink. Instead of sticking to a plan that actually would’ve given us a new look midfield, we’ve taken the easy route because why, we would lose out on a few million? Now we’re stuck with an average player who will likely play every game giving us the same mediocrity he has for years. It makes no sense, he’s not goint to turn into Cesc all of a sudden. Just getting his wages off the books and accepting a symbolic 5 million would’ve been… Read more »
You could replace Xhaka with Miguel Azeez. That’s partly belief in Azeez, but it’s also how little I think of the “good things” Xhaka does.
His best season has come when he’s been asked to stay off-ball in all situations except those which call for turning very slowly and arcing a pass to a wide player. Looks nice for the cameras, does not create space or stretch defenses in any observable sense.
I’m happy for Willock, he’ll be used at Newcastle. For Arsenal, it’s one of those calls that could go either way, you just have to hope it doesn’t hurt in the long term. I was mad about the Ox sale, that hasn’t hurt us footballistically (I’m still sad about it though).
As for why we’re getting 25 instead of 35 or whatever for Willock, look no further than the coach. If Steve Bruce can get more offensive production out of a Hale End graduate than an Arsenal manager, we will keep selling at a discount.
Sadly Lettra, I don’t think it is. It feels more like market value to me. Lets look at a few things here: We can all largely agree that Xhaka’s last 6 months at Arsenal were probably his best since he’s been at club.. and that’s a season where we finished 9th, and where he still made plenty of mistakes that directly resulted in us conceding a goal. And I think since he has been at Arsenal, no midfielder in the Premier League has made as many mistakes that have directly contributed to his team conceding a goal than him, which… Read more »
Funny thing is last time Xhaka nearly left it was Newcastle and Herta Berlin interested. Now only Roma with a “derisory” offer. Maybe teams just get what our managers can’t seem to understand. The guy is clearly a top notch dude off the pitch, great trainer and hard worker, but, sorry, that is simply not enough. His flaws are very hard to cover and cost the team in other areas and he’s best suited to a slow tempo game within which controlling possession isn’t the priority. So basically a mid-table team that sits deep and plays on the counter. We’re… Read more »
I agree we should just take the money on offer for Xhaka and move on, but i also think we need to sell Willock. I don’t agree with the giving minutes to untested or probably more likely not good enough youngsters though as an alternative. Our return to the top end of the table is not going to be achieved that way, in fact the opposite is more likely. We have to return to being a club that purchases players based on quality not on price. We’ve seen over the years that over playing youngsters not at the required level… Read more »
I think selling Willock is fine providing we are trying to bring in revenue for a revamp of that entire department. But £20 odd million for him is such a shit deal when we’ve literally already spent that on Xhaka’s contract extension in wages. It doesn’t make any sense at all. If you’re getting £20M for Willock, £12-15M for Xhaka and about the same for Elneny, then I’d say that’s okay given the market conditions and the type and age profile of the players involved. That would give us £40 odd million to try and get a decent centre mid… Read more »
Yes but mustafi and xhaka , kolasenacwere thought top end when bought
Willock should be sold for me, yes he’s going to be a good PL player but he doesn’t fit or perform in our team. However, £20m is far too low. I’d have been happy with £35m but this is Emi Martinez all over again.
We can’t sell players for shit.
If no one offers anything like £35m (and they won’t) then we keep Joe? We can’t sell players for more than people are willing to pay. Not “we shouldn’t.” We can’t.
It’s literally the dumbest sale, literally throwing 10-15 goals a season, which we haven’t had from midfield since nearly ever, dumb dumb dumb.
If Mikel doesn’t last beyond this season, im sure whoever takes over will be pissed not to have Willock as an option, Bruce is gonna build the team around him, he’s arsenal through and through, thiz isn’t like Ox (injury prone) or Iwobi, Willock is gonna be a huge star, idiots.
I agree. I like the concept of this deal, but for me £20m is too low. If the fee ends up being in the £25m-£30m range then I am all in. Here’s my view if I can think aloud for a minute. Would appreciate other’s opinions on this. When I think about the players we have signed up for the next 3-4 years, I’m fairly happy with what I see as the core of a starting eleven. Yes we have some overpaid players who are underperforming but let’s put them to the side for a moment. We have Tierney, Gabriel,… Read more »
So what you’re saying is that we are just missing 2 or 3 players?
He fits any team. He just doesn’t fit the manager. And the manager is out of his depth along with pretty much everyone else in management and ownership at arsenal.
Hope we have a buy back clause, for when Arteta is sacked and a decent manager comes in. A goal scoring midfield player, now who needs one of those!
Here we go again. He doesn’t “fit our team.” Wake up mate that system Arteta is deploying is getting us nowhere. I’m willing to bet by Christmas we’ll be talking about this again.
And because we want to shoehorn Arteta’s obsession with his rigid tactics, we’re letting go of one of our more promising talents. You all keep saying we have Miguel Azeez. Completely different profile. Joe has better engine, makes great runs. Closest thing we’ve had to Ramsey and minus the injuries.
Agree, senior pros should go , this lad from hale end , broke Alan shearers goal scoring record at n.u.f.c. from midfield. I say again Alan shearers record! Joe be the next lampard , as a goals scoring midfielder, stupid to sell in my opinion. Emery who has shown he knows a few things brought Joe on for ozil on europa final v Chelsea and played him 40 games and had future plans for him. Hope they put a sell on percentage clause in the deal
It is so ridiculous. Losing Willock is another complete bollocksing. Saliba – bollocksed. White, paid 20M too much. Buendia at 33M quid, an absolute steal on a creative player (Villa already discussed how they’re moving him to #10 post Grealish) who we had interest in – bollocksing because we’re dreaming of Marty O, who is good, but not some special talent worth swooning after all summer when it is plain as day he’s not coming. Xhaka – bollocksing isn’t strong enough and he’ll probably block Lokonga all season when Partey is back. This club is a farce.
Absolutely well said. And to think some of our fans think this is good business because Joe doesn’t “fit our system”. What f**king system? The slow ponderous build up that got us 8th? And probably one of the worst xG in the league?
Joe has great engine, make great runs in the box, can score goals and does a great amount of tracking back. Which is something none of our current midfielders can do. And to think we’re only making £20M for him? Young English talent at that. Absolute f**king joke.
Yeah I have seen loads of stuff like that..
Its like what, so Mikel the guy who is being hailed as the next coming of Pep, Wenger, Cruyff and Bielsa rolled into one.. can’t figure out what to do with Willock… but Steve Bruce can get him breaking a Premier League record for the most goals scored in consecutive matches for a player of his age.
Like give me a break…
Emi Martinez is worth double of what we sold by now. It’s sad to see whenever our homegrown players show some glimpse of talent and we let go for cheap.
The reason he’s worth double is because he was sold to a club where he played regularly. I don’t think there’s much between Leno and Martinez in terms of shot-stopping, but the former has the edge with the ball at his feet and so the club made the decision that best suits how Arteta wants to play. I really wish we’d stop moaning about Martinez.
In what planet does Leno have the edge with the ball at his feet??? The main thing ppl say about Martinez is his distribution and calm on the ball!
Martinez is miles better with the ball and his distribution. Much calmer presence that has an effect on the defence too.
Exactly. Emi was clearly better with the ball at his feet and distribution both short and long in his short time during Leno’s injury. But Leno was far more experienced and thus it would have taken some serious balls to sell Leno and make Emi the number 1. Which was the only way keeping Emi was possible. And frankly, I think we heard that nobody was putting money on Leno as they were Emi, so this the decision made itself I guess. Although I had been hoping for a long time Emi would step up and become our long term… Read more »
I’m not sure that’s true. I think it’s more there was a market for Martinez. He was cheaper being a number 2 and also willing to play for a lesser club.
We could never have sold Leno as easily.
We could never have sold Leno as easily.
— You are saying the same thing in a different.
Leno was our no 1 keeper, and we would have wanted 30mn+ for selling him. But no one was willing to pay that much for Leno, so we sold Martinez on the “cheap”, as Arteta did not trust Emi enough to become future no 1 for Arsenal.
That isn’t at all what I said but we can agree to disagree.
And now Emi is worth probably close to €35M (Transfermarkt) and Leno maybe €22M (transfermarkt). Well done Arsenal. Well fuking done.
I am with you Jay, it was the first time in years I felt comfortable and confident when Martinez had that run of games. Leno is no difference from almunia 🤣
I really wish you’d stop defending this club’s hierarchy’s idiotic transfer dealings.
Revisionist history is alive and well. Who is better with the ball at his feet? Leno. Does that mean Martinez is bad at it? No!
Wow, was Theo better with ball at his feet than Henry as well 😂🤣. If ten people tell you, you are a horse you better get yourself a saddle.
Just rewatch all our games with Emi once Leno got injured. It’s not revisionist if it’s true.
But no, keep your candle lit for Martinez!
Get over it.
Soon we will saying the same for Willock. Rinse and repeat is Arsenal’s matra.
I honestly don’t think many people thought Leno was better at passing out from the back than Martinez at the time.
The risk was that Martinez hadn’t really looked that special up until those last 10 or so games of the season (if he did to you, then fair play, but I’d always thought he’d looked no more than OK). That was also with no crowds, BTW, something that still hasn’t been a factor since he’s been at Aston Villa. It’s unlikely, but it’s possible he won’t be as good when he’s got opposition fans screaming at him.
He did really well in the Europa League, we only lost when Mikel dropped him and played Leno.
Get over it?
Mate, as Blogs says, we are one bad reckless challenge away from a lengthy Leno injury aka being right up shit creek.
We all saw what happened to Leno against Brighton last year – has Arteta and his Stooges learned nothing?
It would seem so.
Well, whatever. I just don’t see the point of continuing to cry about Martinez a year after the fact.
Because it’s a matter of this fan base recognising and holding this bogus hierarchy to account for their blatant ineptitude – that’s why.
Martinez should never have been sold – and neither, as we will see – should Willock.
Well said Qwally
Give us something not to cry about in relation to Arsenal then?
Hope we don’t.. Ramsdale is NOT good at all.. why can’t we just get Neto instead?
Why couldn’t we just get Ryan? Talk about low-hanging fruit!
Be excited, Arsenal will get Werner from Chelsea at 11:00 PM, transfer market closing day.
What’s really special about the players we are keeping, football is about goals you know
What’s special is that other clubs don’t want them either
I still feel he was a good option from bench.
He had a knack like Ramsey to be in the box ans score unique goals which none of our current squad can.
Hope this doesn’t bite us.
True all of that, but on the flipside, not only does this sale add to our spending firepower, but it also frees up a badly needed squad place ( we can only have, and register so many players, especially if we’re not playing in Europe this year ), to bench a player that is a current starter… something to keep in mind I reckon. 🙂
Freeing up squad space works better when it’s deadwood. You’re also assuming the money will be spent wisely.
And assuming that money isn’t already spent???!
In that case, we reaally need the money as a club, and this is great value for what we’re giving them, with all due respect to Willock.
But from all that we know, I am highly doubtful that we’ve spent all that we are going to spend in this window already.
Well, based on the most recent evidence, i.e. this summer, we’ll spend it fine… White is obvious class, and Lokonga and Tavares defo seem talented and pretty good value for money. As for deadwood, yeah, we connect with the homegrown players that come out of the academy a bit more, of course, it’s completely understandable, but to from a purely footballing perspective I can’t think of a better definition of deadwood than a player who is so far off the starting 11 that you send him out on loan, and then bench him and barely use him once he comes… Read more »
He’s better than Iwobi, Iwobi still doesn’t know what his best position is, neither do his coaches, Joe also has great technique, strong and deceptively quick. His passing stats went down once he started playing further forward, if you look back he played most of his youth as a holding midfielder, losing big talent here.
So your suggestion is that we sell no one and buy no one, because you don’t trust us to get it right? A fascinating policy, let’s see where we are in a couple of years with it.
I made no such suggestion. You inferred it. That’s on you.
Unless we have a buyback clause in there somewhere then I really can’t see how this is a good deal. And as most have pointed out we’ll probably use that money on second rate transfer targets.
I feel the exact same way. Unless the above is true, I don’t view this as a good deal.
He’s the 2nd most valuable England U21 midfielder in the country and this is how low AFC value him.
Come on mate. Willock had a hot spell at Newcastle, and massively outscored vs XG. Messi would have a wet dream at those XG / scoring figures. He’s decent and may improve, possibly, but much much more likely is that he’ll revert to the mean and score 5 goals all season for Newcastle. I hope he does well, I’ve got nothing against him, but £20m for a fringe player who had a streak that artificially inflated his value is great business in what is a ridiculously deflated market
He is homegrown, and under 21, remember?
He doesn’t take up any space in the squad, or does he?
Umm, fair point maybe, not sure about this, I think maybe if we want him to count as one of our homegrown players than he would count and take up someone’s space, and if we don’t he still passes for a young player that we can just use freely… But even if he clears the bar from the formal viewpoint, looking at the actual competitions and the small amount of games we’ll be playing, there will only be minutes for a certain amount of players, and our squad is bloated as it is, as much as we’d want to keep… Read more »
All U21’s can be registered to the first team and doesn’t impact the 25 player registration limit. Also can only have 17 non home grown, so yes, Willock didn’t impact either of those limitations. Good player, good kid, he will have a great career in non possession based teams. Transfer market is broken due to pandemic so fee is good for a young player. Good business.
He’s homegrown, he doesnt take up squad space….
Willock became the youngest player to score in six consecutive Premier League games thanks to winner against Sheffield United – then sell him…
So Willock goes while we still have Willian on the books?
Now let’s sell Nelson and Niles for a packet of chips and retain mojo-less Bellerin and umm Cedric?
The money we get we can throw at fucking Tammy Abraham.
Has the lesser spotted ‘Torreira’ been seen yet!
Ultimately he’s a young pro — he’s never going to be perfect, but he’s got very raw attributes that for me, show promise that he can get better if he’s given time and minutes. But the critical thing is here, his output now, would be about the same if not better than someone like Xhaka or Elneny. It’s not going to be any worse — sure he’s maybe not as good with the ball, but there’s more ways to utilise possession. He can carry the ball effectively to break defensive lines, which literally none of our current midfield options bar… Read more »
Martinelli didn’t play all that much in Tokyo to be fair but you are right about the rest of it.
With the fans all up in a tizzy… Mikel won’t survive beyond October if he doesn’t get the results.
No one believes in this rebuild.
I guess because the rebuild is non existent, it’s all the same guys who have not been good enough for the last 5 years! And instead of selling them, we’re offering them new deals! It’s fucking bananas.
I do.
I laud your faith. Please prove us doubters wrong 🙏🏼
Can I ask, what are you anticipating to be different from last season? And to be clear I totally respect your opinion and I dont want to seem that I am belittling it at all. I am just genuinely curious. Because for me, we have literally all of the same players from the previous campaign that secured a 9th place finish or maybe it was 10th I cant remember. but who cares. The manager is setting us up to play exactly the same way which saw us create basically zero goal scoring changes last season. Our xG in all of… Read more »
I would love for him to have succeeded at Arsenal, but he did get plenty of game time and never really impressed. Even at Newcastle he was coming off the bench usually. He scored some goals, but those were usually late game throw everything at it scenarios. Arsenal should be attempting to build something better than that for sure. Whether they do or not remains to be seen.
A player that can show up and is high on confidence is worth his weight in gold.
I’d love for him to take the ball of Laca and Auba who are deep in funk at this stage and get right into it.
The only way selling Willock is justified is if we get a goal scoring CM who is an upgrade. Which honestly I don’t see happening.
What game time? Last season under Arteta, Willock got 566 minutes across all competitions. 238 of those minutes were in 7 Premier League games and his average match duration was 33.5 minutes per match. Does that sound like enough game-time to aid development. As I said before, Willock started 11 games out of 14 at Newcastle. 3 goals were from the bench and 5 were as a starter. His average match duration was ~70 minutes per match It’s the same story with with AMN and Nelson (who actually agreed to a winter loan too). Some fans expect the player to… Read more »
Not sure why the down votes, my man was just spitting facts.
Would he have a chance of a game at City (no), Liverpool (no), Chelsea (no), Utd (he would come on as sub). Does anyone want to pay more than £20M for him? No. Is he worth more to us sitting on the bench this season than pocketing £20M we can use to buy a no 10/right back/CDM/back-up keeper? No.
Fans make things so complicated.
Haha
“Fans make things so complicated”
Guess you aren’t one of them then.
The teams that you list are uncatchable in the next 2-3 years.
Your question should be: Can he help a side trying to fight for a European place – Spuds, West Ham, Leicester, Everton, Aston Villa.
Your answer should be: Let me not be a condescending asshole who thinks he is above the fans of the club.
Ramsey averaged 6 goals a season in his time with us.
He was mostly rubbish but Arsene loved him.
More than our current central midfield combined then….and that’s with being injury prone also
As much as I love the lad, I think this is a deal which makes sense for everyone, and it’s a reasonable fee given the current market.
I would have love to see him cement a starting place here, but I think relying on yet another young, developing player for the season and the immense improvements that we need to see ASAP would be a step too far and I feel would have backfired.
I wish him all the best, and hope we can put the money to good use.
I have two questions regarding this sentence
20m seems cheap considering the goals he scored last year and he’s English. But that’s comparing him to market value pre Covid when Brewster went for 60 billion or whatever it was. Guess we don’t know the new normal yet.
Also, is it every fan who thinks their club always over pays and under sells or is it an arsenal thing?
Perhaps it’s personal bias but underselling young talent really does feel like an Arsenal speciality. Even the often touted Ox (£35m) and Iwobi(£28m) fees were very much what their respective market values were at the time. No one has “overpaid” for Arsenal youngsters since Anelka and Overmars. Even Fabregas and Song went for below their market value. An example I remember is when Man Utd wanted to buy Sean Longstaff from Newcastle. Their first reported bid was £25m (already higher than Willock’s add-on) which was rejected. Newcastle were seeking for a fee closer to £50m. Of course that deal died… Read more »
Agree with this, I’d even say Ox was a little cheap given his importance for us at the time, the fact he was a full England international, and that we were selling to a rival. The contrasting fortunes of both clubs since reinforces that view, it only looks like a great deal if you ignore that. That deal should also act as a cautionary tale, because we spent all the Ox money and more on Lacazette. We’re now potentially selling Willock and using that money to re-sign Xhaka and bring in Ramsdale for £32m! In short, selling a player can… Read more »
Goodness. It reads like a horror novel doesn’t it?
Arsenal’s transfer business has been shit for the best part of 15 years but that doesn’t improve if you’re not prepared to sell players you no longer want.
We have to take the best we can get for the likes of Willock, Xhaka, AMN, Nelson, Bellerin etc move on and accept it’s going to be expensive getting the quality replacements we need.
It’s the only way to break the cycle.
Not quite sure what you mean here. I think Arsenal has been prepared to sell players it no longer wants, many times. The players the club no longer wants and the players most of the fans no longer want can be quite different. Mustafi was wanted out by most fans by February 2017 but Arsenal didn’t start entertaining offers until August 2017 IMO, part of Arsenal’s selling issue has been haggling over respectable but loss-inducing fees over want-away senior players. We’ve haggled over fees for Xhaka (twice), Bellerin, Mustafi (thrice). Mhkitaryan and Lacazette to name a few. An accepted offer… Read more »
What i mean is that Arsenal are one of the 10 largest clubs in the world and pay our players in line with that, which inevitably means when a player is no longer good enough for us we are selling to clubs with significantly less money, so a loss is a given. To make money from transfers we have to sell players when we don’t want to sell, otherwise we have to treat the loss a big club tax. The only way to break the cycle is to sell the unwanted players and replace them with wanted ones. The facts… Read more »
No, it’s definitely cheap. Our negotiating team are the worst in the entire league. Chelsea just took £18m on a 21 year old centre back who had the grand sum of zero Premier League appearances. Zero. It’s a fucking farce we keep selling players for what is comparatively peanuts.
Our young players lose value because we play them too much, we only sell once it’s become clear we no longer want them. We’ve already lost any leverage in negotiation once thats the case.
If you mean that the change in their match minutes by the time they’re out of favour is noticeable to other clubs? Then I can see your perspective.
Otherwise, I don’t see how that claim makes sense.
We play them enough for other teams to see they’re not top quality
You have to understand that a) the sample size is a half season at Newcastle, and b) Willock’s success there has a lot to do with how Newcastle are set up and play, relying on disrupting opposition possession and hitting them on the counter. Do I think Arsenal would get the best out of Willock? Not really. Perhaps as a sub when chasing the game, but Willock would not be happy with that, and I don’t blame him.
The 78 games and 11 goals for us as well as multiple appearances/goals at international youth level surely count for something too. A bit like Martinez last season, this feels to me like one where the move is the right one for all parties, but I can’t help but think another club would have secured a higher fee in both cases.
There is no nuance to the discussion. Either Arsenal fans say it’s fine or they get apoplectic and moan about Martinez and Xhaka.,,and the anger is then directed at anyone who says it’s fine.
The joy.
Emery who has shown what he knows with young players at Villarreal etc..have him 40games and brought him on for ozil in Europa final v Chelsea so he saw a future . Bruce thinks he has the next lampard. When Joe played lots of games for us he was a 6 foot skinny kid. He is now 6’3 muscular man !. I hope we have a buy back clause and a sell on clause. He could play for us as one of three heavy metal midfield players like ‘wilmaldhun’ at LFC in a klopp 433. With three athletes , (… Read more »
you can’t grow 3 inches at that age lol
You can easy as a adolescent , people grow at different ages lol
He scored 8 in 14 games!
On 14 shots. Scoring better than 1 in every 2 shots is not sustainable, Willock was the player in the league who most overperformed their expected goals.
A player who gets 1 shot per 90 won’t score more than 1 every 2 matches long term.
And that’s definitely repeatable and a sure sign of what he can do week in and week out!
Worth trying Joe , we scoring poorrly last year , name a signing that has helped with that goalscoring ?
Maybe. It’s just strange to me that the idea that the club should take a punt on Joe is the stick some fans are using to beat the club / manager. I really think some people believe that what Joe did at Newcastle was representative not only of his future but also what he would do for Arsenal.
Arteta has a clear plan , of pep style football tiki taka with a Stella midfield play maker e.g. kdb, thiagio at Bayern , xavi, inestia at Barca. Then a great lad like Joe comes along , Joe, he would fit in with a kloop style football tactics , but Arteta won’t compromise, which is ok, but then buys no midfielder to do this role . Hopefully ESR, can do it obviously but a lot of pressure and as a midfield er , both he and edu are worth criticism to say why you not addressing this key center midfield… Read more »
Arteta has a clear plan , of pep style football tiki taka with a Stella midfield play maker e.g. kdb, thiagio at Bayern , xavi, inestia at Barca.
Then a great lad like Joe comes along , would fit in with a kloop style football tactics , but Arteta won’t compromise, which is ok, but then buys no midfielder to do this role . Hopefully ESR, can do it obviously but a lot of pressure and as a midfield er , both he and edu are worth criticism to say why you not addressing this key center midfield role
Can’t say I am happy about this, getting shot of other players seems a struggle though!! Hope we don’t waste the money but instead invest in a quality attacking midfielder!!! On a side note what is up with Auba and Laca 😮
I’d rather keep the homegrown youngster with bags of potential, than hold onto Xhaka for the sake of a couple of million extra we can’t squeeze put of Roma! Arsenaly
We don’t actually know how far they were apart though do we. We could have said the same thing about AMN last year and that looks like a bad non-sale now.
This midfield would not operate as well as it does without Xhaka and there were plenty of examples of that last season. Also there’s plenty of talent in the Arsenal academy more than capable of taking the Xhaka role.
The midfield doesn’t operate well with or without Xhaka. Virtually everytime we’ve played against a more athletic midfield, we’ve lost the midfield battle from the first minute. I wouldn’t call our midfield functional, it’s merely just getting by.
The fact is that mediocre Xhaka played as consistently mediocre as he always does and the rest of the team collapsed around him last season.
We finished 8th. Not sure why no one thinks a pedestrian like midfield might have contributed to that.
Operate as well? It doesn’t Operate well that’s partly the reason that we have no European football. I like Xhaka but we need an upgrade desperately, someone who moves the ball quickly and direct. Xhaka has been here 5 years and we have declined season after season, I know it’s not all his fault but he’s partly to blame.
You think our midfield “operates well”…….?!
🤣
I think this midfield operates quite poorly, actually. Our two biggest issues last season were slow transition and chance creation – both of which are more midfield issues.
Precisely. We had a very similar scenario with Martinez and Leno last season. At least this time we had offers for both Xhaka and Willock.
What a puzzling decision. Argue over pennies for Xhaka but accept the lowest fee possible for your most promising midfielder.
£20 million doesn’t even get you a marquee Championship player these days.
I don’t understand why people are comparing Xhaka and Willock, two completely different positions and completely different skill sets.
Willock plays largely as a 10, Xhaka as a 6 yet half these posts are saying it’s an either/or thing. Wild.
It doesn’t need to be a comparison. From the bigger picture squad management and midfield composition perspective it’s hard to argue for extending Xhaka’s contract while selling Willock. It just means it will likely be harder to move on Xhaka and we lose a potent goal threat from the midfield.
That’s actually the exact reason people are comparing them. One is a young, versatile, dynamic player that could be either a box-to-box or purely attacking midfielder. The other is a sclerotic, pedestrian midfielder that can only play one way and has typified our football for the last 5 years. That we are discarding the former and doubling down on the latter suggests a lot about the direction of this team.
No it doesn’t, it’s quite clear the club is open to both them going.
Neither are the direction the management wants to go in
If we’re really open to Xhaka going, and that’s not the direction we want to go in, why on Earth are we offering him a new, improved, long term deal as per The Athletic? And please don’t say we’re trying to protect his value at 28 years old, we’re just making him even harder to shift in the future. Could easily be another Ozil or Willian if that goes through.
I have no idea, but we were close to selling him.
Personally i think offering Xhaka is a really stupid idea
This.
Hopefully there’s a plan to spend that money wisely. We’ll soon find out.
I have mixed feelings about this trade. It’s probably for the best for all concerned but I hope it doesn’t turn out to be something we regret in the future.
Well you just know that every time plays Arsenal that he’ll score against us.
And I wouldn’t begrudge him a Wellbeck style celebration
I would
So he’s being sold for roughly the same amount as Xhaka’s wages over the next 4 years……
Gotta pay for those wages somehow
Mixed feelings. I really hope it goes well for him personaly, but also hope we won’t get too many regrets selling him.
Did we sneak in a buy back clause just in case?
Nevertheless. Good luck to you Joe!
Here is a perfect opportunity to show that we are no longer transfer mugs with our youngsters.
I think selling him is the right thing to do based on we need money but the people at the top should be putting clauses in that contract either buy-back, sell-on fee or both.
Going from the Championship to the Premier League, these are the fees that the above homegrown players went for. The fact that £25m is the highest we can get for selling Willock, an U21 midfielder with 9G/1A in 54 Premier League appearances is incredibly disappointing.
The difference being we want to sell those clubs didn’t
Yeah, Liverpool and Chelsea were dying to keep Brewster and Guehi, weren’t they?🙄
Based on your theory, Fabregas, Clichy, Cole, RvP and Gnabry must have been want-away players.
He didn’t list either of those players and yes, Fabregas, Clichy, Cole, RvP and Gnabry all wanted to leave, which is why we got a pittance for them
What I don’t understand is how we never seem to create a market for a player? This is a player with plenty of first team appearances, scored and made plenty in the UEFA cup, and scored plenty in the Prem for a lower mid table team while on loan. And only Newcastle are interested?
Interesting how differently people spin similar situations involving different players. With regards to Xhaka, people say that if he was that good, bigger clubs than Roma would be trying to sign him. But when it comes to Willock, no one says that if he was that good, someone better than Newcastle – who are way beneath Roma – would be in for him. In this case, it shows that we can’t “create a market for a player”.
Arseblog, via RMC Sport, literally reported that AS Monaco contacted Joe Willock just a few days ago. Yes, clubs and agents create artificial markets for players all the time. Just look at how many players get linked to Arsenal all the time, most of whom we know we are not realistically signing. There was an attempt to create artificial interest by linking Xhaka to Juventus, obviously it didn’t work.
Xhaka, as a Swiss international captain and 5 year veteran in the Premier League ideally should have more suitors than Roma and Hertha Berlin.
Ok it’s not that we don’t. We just do it so badly and openly. Its not just public rumours there should be a bunch going on that we don’t know about. It’s what I thought Raul would help us with. A bit of savvy but I mistook savvy for bent.
And if Willock is such a great prospect, then he should have more suitors than Newcastle and (allegedly) Monaco.
Either both statements are true, or neither is – you can’t have one logic for one and a different logic for the other.
The only club that was seriously in for ESR was Aston Villa, I guess that makes him rubbish too? As the post above says, you would expect a bigger market from top clubs for a proven player in their prime. One that has started for us for the last 5 years. To even compare it to Willock is kinda crazy imo.
This!
if this helps us get an even better attacking midfielder to go alongside ESR, then I’m fine with this. sad to see Joe go, but sometimes it is just better to cash in
It does point towards the necessity of a signing in that department so fingers crossed it’s one of Aouar or Maddison.
Two words: Emi Martinez
Two words: Alex Iwobi
Three words: Let it go.
Four words: Martinez better than Leno.
Five Words: No feckin market for Leno.
Eight words: In your opinion, but you’re not an expert!
Oh Jesus. We had Emi for a decade, went on loan a couple of times, not especially successful. Would probably have been sold for less than 2 million at the beginning of his last season with us. Played very well for a half season, got a big offer and wanted to leave. No one did anything wrong.
Emi didn’t want to leave – Leno does. What SHOULD have been done was the club should have tried to lock down one of the two to a long-term contract. If Emi was the one willing to sign and Leno wasn’t, we should have tried to move Leno. I understand there wasn’t much interest in Leno, but you have to wonder how much of that was because we were openly shopping Martinez. And maybe if there isn’t a market for a player you consider superior because they’re on too high wages, you might want to re-think the entire wage structure… Read more »
Wanted to keep. but i hope we get buy back and/or sell on clauses
Good luck joe, always liked you
“During a summer when we’ve struggled to offload players (and already spent more than £70 million) it’s a deal that Arsenal fans will begrudgingly agree makes sense.” Probably should speak for yourself. I think many fans would be scratching their heads if their club was selling one of their best prospects, one that’s showed real premier league quality in one of our problem positions, while keeping dross like Willian and handing out a new contract to Xhaka. It’s almost as if instead of rectifying the mistakes of the past, we’re doubling down on them in the hope of a big… Read more »
Agree with you re Xhaka’s new contract but the mistakes of the past also include repeatedly waiting too long to sell players when we should have cashed in, see: Maitland-Niles, Nketiah, Aubamayang, Ozil, Ramsey, Sanchez etc
Most of the players you’ve mentioned were entering their 30s and running down their contracts, a very different situation from what’s happening with Willock, and more similar to Xhaka. As far as I’m aware we have never received a half decent offer for Nketiah, but if we do I’m pretty sure we’ll sell. We did have an offer for AMN but there’s no guarantee he’d have gone even if they reached our valuation, given Wolves likely wanted him to play wing back and he’d prefer to play in midfield.
I agree with you 100 percent… collect the money and run, u never can tell, see Maitland Niles last season, wanted by wolves, did they come back???… I just hope we insert buy back, or sell on fees, we need to copy Chelsea model, use academy to generate funds and invest it in established players that can buy u instant success, this is our only escape route, else we are doomed, cos kronkees not ready to invest, Chelsea is buying lukaku, 50 percent of that fee is generated from academy, … Think we missed a trick on matheus Pereira, if… Read more »
But the club isn’t selling one of its best prospects, is it?
No, we’re not. I think the outrage over selling Willock is more to do with the overall ongoing shit show that is the state of our squad. This is a good deal. Now let’s deal with some of the other (harder) stuff we need to sort out.
It’ll only be a good deal if we use that money wisely enough that we’re better off than if we kept Willock. If we spend it on signing Ramsdale for £32m, it won’t look so clever!
Even worse if we spend it on Tammy Abraham.
After Saka and Smith-Rowe, which prospect has done more to impress you than Willock? I’m a little shocked how easily some have dismissed what he did at Newcastle in the top flight.
Martinelli! I’d even put Nketiah and AMN ahead of Willock. Nothing against Willock; I wish he was good enough for us, but sadly, he isn’t.
Fair enough on Martenelli, though he hasn’t done what Willock has done in the premier league. Really strongly disagree on Nketiah and AMN though.
Hopefully the best business since Iwobi.
Disappointed. He’s still young. I’ve got the feeling that Newcastle will be getting themselves a bargain. Prem goal scorers are normally quite expensive. Willock scored more than Grealish last season. We kinda need that goal scoring knack in the squad. Hope we spend the money wisely.
5/8 of a Joelinton (25m) for him isn’t bad, I do want him to do well but just felt like a player with a ceiling for me.
Sad to see him go obviously, but we can’t really justify keeping a player that’s worth upwards £30m, and then use him as a sub.
We’d probably prefer to sell other players instead, but very few dispendables in the squad have garnered any interest from other clubs.
He’s definitely worth more than £30m, can’t see how selling him for £20m-£25m is good business for me though.
Araenal fans can make our own minds up
The autumn Emirates boos will be deafening.
For instance how to spell out the club’s name.
As it stands we are very light on goals and creativity. If we sell him we are lighter on goals and creativity. If there was evidence of a proper plan to address these weaknesses I would say sell him. I haven’t seen any evidence of a proper plan and I don’t think one exists. I hope I’m wrong
What would a proper plan look like to you?
‘Arsenal fans will begrudgingly agree makes sense.’
Really? I don’t know many Arsenal fans who’d agree with this.
And most don’t trust the club to spend it wisely.
Good luck lad. “We can only imagine what sort of impact you would’ve had if we had a proper gaffer”.
Perfect
Arsene Wenger, the greatest gaffer of all, would also have let him go.
Let’s respect Wenger and not insinuate what he would’ve done because technically you are comparing him to Arteta, and that is disrespect of the highest order.
I am the absolute last person on this earth to ever disrespect Arsene Wenger – I don’t know where you got that from. That would be like a devout Christian disrespecting Jesus.
Based historically on the great man’s purchases and sales, I am certain he too would have let Willock go, albeit with a heavy heart, because of Willock’s lack of technical ability and inability to make optimal decisions when on the ball. But good luck to the kid!
Maybe it makes business sense.
But I’m gutted.
Let’s hope Willock’s sale opens the door for more outgoings.
Kolasinac, Lucas – the forgotten man – Torreira, Bellerin, Cedric, Elneny, Willian and Nketiah have to be moved on.
If Edu and Co can pull that off, and sign the 3 players we need before the window closes, there would be hope of a top 4 finish considering our relatively light schedule.
That is a big IF, I know.
I guess Torreira doesn’t have to be moved on.
He was fine when he played where he was supposed to.
If we don’t get offers for him, we might as well play him.
Arteta doesn’t rate him; he won’t use him. End of story.
Who remembers Alex Iwobi and the mixed feeling when he was sold?
It’s turning out to be a good move by the club. He has done everything but prove good value for Everton’s money.
Whether you are happy or sad to see him go for 20+ mill, it’s a Great move for Willock. He’s so young. If he can establish himself there, he could make a move to a better club and Newcastle could make a profit. Knowing Arsenal, that’s probably what will happen. For sure that right move for him! For us, who knows?
Sky Sports says it’s in the region of £25M.
Not a bad deal if that is correct.
Can’t keep ‘e’m all.
Except if their last name is Xhaka
No, you can’t.
But the general idea is to keep your best players and sell your shit. Not the other way around, like Willock and Xhaka.
What a week.
All aboard The Midtable Express…..
Exactly! We’ve got to realise this. Joe would not have been a regular stater if he stayed. Its tough seeing him go but I feel its the right thing.
Seems like it was necessary just to get some money in but feels like this could definitely bite us in the arse. Willock is a good committed player. He’ll do well at Newcastle. I had hoped we’d keep him on but at the same time it can be best to strike while the iron’s hot. Here’s hoping he turns out like an Iwobi sale.
Love the over reactions. Willocks level is Newcastle. He’s played for Arsenal and he wasn’t impressive even in Europa League games. Do some of you not understand that players have levels? Willock at Newcastle looks alike he fits in there. At Arsenal he’s looked average. 25 million is a good price, and we should take it while there’s a club willing to pay. We could have taken 25 for AMN last season from wolves, how much is he worth now? Or would all of you be throwing your toys out the pram because he scored a fucking penalty. Calm the… Read more »
Xhaka’s level is Hertha Berlin, yet our manager is hell-bent on building his squad around him.
Cedric’s level is Benfica, Elneny’s is Fenerbahce, Willian’s is Quatari retirement league.
What is Lacazette’s or Bellerin’s level, currently?
There’s a lot of snobbery on display here where we consider passing to be the mark of sophistication and class, but goalscoring somehow not.
Arteta was more than happy to sell Xhaka so stop speaking shit.
It’s more than possible that both Xhaka and Willock aren’t the required level as well as the others you’ve mentioned. But you have to start off loading that lot somewhere, and that somewhere is Willock first!
If he had been more than happy to sell, he would have sold him.
Roma’s offer was pretty much market value.
I just know he’s going to a big club for £50m+ if we sell him.
Scores goals from midfield, plus homegrown and fits the age profile of the squad we’re trying to build. Really didn’t want to see this, I’d have loved us to have given Willock a run in the team and see what happens.
GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN, JOE!!
This deal only makes sense if we buy another midfielder. Spurs were shit today and yet we lost, mainly due to our midfield options in my opinion.
Risky, I would’nd sell, he’s potencially a great secound striker, has such good movement in the box to find space and bodyshape to finish chances. If the club think of him as midfielder than fair enough, but I just have this feeling he could develop into a Havertz-esque player doing 1 2’s and dropping’em in by the dozen. And I don’t mean just from his loan, that was only confirmation.
Yup.. you are right.he got this rare quality in the box, evidence by his showing in the Europa league and FA cup games for us, and in the PL for Newcastle… I too think its a risky move and prefer it to be a loan instead of a sale, because I do feel that with the right coach or way of playing (for him either fast flowing or fast transition), he could potentially be devastating in a year or two. Despite the presense of many more established players at our club, Joe (for me) was our best performer in the… Read more »
I don’t see how anyone thinks its a good idea to sell our highest scoring central midfielder from each of the last 2 years when your biggest problem is scoring goals. Makes no sense to me!!
Not only that but also selling an experienced Premier League midfielder for Championship level fees.
I think selling Willock is a huge mistake. He did exactly what was asked of him when on loan at Newcastle. Not sure what else he can do to get a chance to play for us. Arteta is so one dimensional in his coaching style. If a player does not fit his system then he has to go. How about being a decent coach and working with the talent you do have? This decision could be decisive, i hope he knows what he is doing. If we are not in the top 4 at Christmas, Arteta has to go in… Read more »
I’m no fan of Arteta either, but your last sentence is so stupid, and should disqualify you from ever giving an opinion on anything ever again; it just sums up everything wrong with football fans these days. Go check where we were on Christmas day 1997, and see what happened by May 1998.
Mate, we are light years away from the squad of 97/98.
And there’s the small matter of the management and ownership structure. We are light years away from what we had back then, too.
This dude is right. Arteta has to go. Edu has to go. Kroenke has to go. People are finally beginning to wake up to the antics of these clowns.
Sadly, it’s taking yet another wasted season for them to do so.
I don’t particularly disagree with any of that, but you have totally missed my point. I was reacting to the statement “If we are not in the top 4 at Christmas, Arteta has to go in my opinion”. You can agree that that statement is stupid, no? Even if you want Arteta out, basing the decision on whether or not we’re in the top four at Christmas is really daft.
You would expect this club to be top six minimum at Christmas. Anyone who is sixth is normally out of the title race but – again I use the word normally – within a shout of top four. Maybe asking for top four in December is a tall order, but top six definitely isn’t for this club. Anything lower than eighth and, for me anyway, Arteta has to go. So yeah, I agree top four in December for this club is highly desirable (it was expected in no uncertain terms in Wenger’s day remember) but also highly unlikely. Top six… Read more »
Sad, sad news and incompetent management.
Im really REALLY worried for this season. The lack of basic competence at this club is unreal
If Willock hadn’t come through the academy, would there be so many people complaining about this sale? Yes it would be great to see as many players as possible come through the system and have long, successful careers at Arsenal, but the brutal truth is that Willock lacks technical ability and makes decisions which, whilst not always being wrong, are not optimal. And just because he was brilliant for Newcastle, doesn’t mean he’ll be brilliant, or even good enough, for us.
If Arteta wasn’t an ex-player, would there be so many people in favour of keeping him on?Yes, it would be great to see a former player have a long,successful managerial career at Arsenal but the truth is Arteta lacks tactical nous and makes decisions which, whilst not always being wrong, are not optimal.And just because he was a brilliant assistant for Man City, doesn’t mean he’ll be brilliant, or even good enough for us. Perhaps a bit harsh but you’re trusting the judgement of a man (men) with a poor track record in decision-making. What makes you so certain that… Read more »
You seem to think that I am a big fan of Arteta and his ways, but I really am not – if it was down to me, Arteta would have been gone this summer, and Arsene Wenger would be back. So I am not trusting his judgement; I just happen to agree with him and the club on this particular sale. Willock has done really well at Newcastle, scoring many goals, but even there – under all this new coaching you speak of – I have noticed him miscontrol the ball plenty of times. He also still makes safe and… Read more »
Top post, great stuff. 👍🍺
You’ve got to be seriously obtuse to downvote this.
Love the player but will probably end up being an Iwobi/Ox deal for Arsenal, which were great business.
I love the silence from those people who were assuming that Arsenal’s and Arsene Wenger’s coaching was the problem after Oxlade scored a couple of goals early in his Liverpool career.
“He’s playing so well for Liverpool – just shows how bad Arsenal were with him”. Why aren’t they now saying “maybe he isn’t that good after all”?
This just feels wrong. Two points to loaning out (1) they get the experience and help the team when they come back, (2) puts them in the shop window to sell on. He did that at an impressive rate but when we were struggling for goals last season and not brought in anyone to bridge this gap, this feels too much of a risk. And in this market, english, goal scorer, young, £20m feels a joke. What the hell is Edu doing. Not offloaded anyone except our best prospect. Please let me be wrong before the window closes.
Really sad to see Joe go. He worked really hard on the pitch for us and it was clear he had growing potential. Yes, he was a young’un, but I thought the experience he had away at Newcastle would have made him come back stronger for us at Emirates. The only way there can be a positive out of this is if we spend the £20 mill towards somebody way bigger…???
Joe is better than xhaka and a million times better than elneny.
All you need to know about our club right their
Both will be staring in our next few games…you couldn’t make this up.
We made Villa’s goalkeeper situation stronger whilst weakening our own.
We’ve now made Newcastle’s midfield stronger whilst weakening our own.
No, you couldn’t make it up.
No mate – Joe is not better than Xhaka, nor Elneny. You’re only saying that because Willock is homegrown and the other two aren’t, and because you are influenced by the media, who hype up British players.
Respect your opinion but mine is just as valid. Not influenced by the media at all. I believe he his better than both and will go on to prove it at Newcastle. Nothing to do with being home grown. Amn , nketiah, iwobi none are good enough for an Arsenal team that aspires to be in the top 4 at least. Willock may be in the same category but at the moment he’s better than we have and should be kept.
Have a strong feeling that Willock will turn into another Emi, leaving us to wonder why we sold a English under 21 for such a low fee.
Think we should keep him. But considering that his contract is up soon, then perhaps taking the 20mil and reinvest might not be so bad, instead of waiting for a gnabry to happen
We’ll be spending 40M next year to replace Willock with a similar player. Edu & Arteta knows.
Arteta is making yet another massive massive mistake here. If he wants to move the team to a 4-3-3, he had it all here already. Bellerin,White,Gabriel,Tierney. Willock, ESR, Partey Pepe, Auba, Saka. This time last year, we strengthened Villa’s goalkeeper situation whilst weakening our own. I said in time we would be running around like ants from a kettle of boiling water, trying to find a new back up keeper – and guess what…..? Now, we have just strengthened Newcastle’s midfield and weakened our own . For what money? I’ll tell you what money. Pocket change, as far as Kroenke… Read more »
Just watch Newcastle flip him for 50 million in a season or two. How is Iwobi going for more than Willock? Nobody understands how to value an asset at Arsenal.
Iwobi. Forgot about him. The only decent bit of business this club has done in terms of sales under stans reign.
Think you’ve misunderstood me. Selling Iwobi is the best bit of business we’ve ever done. But he is worse than Willock but went for more. That’s the idiocy of this situation.
Iwobi was sold pre-Covid 19.