adminHad things turned out slightly differently this summer, Joe Willock could easily have found himself in Turkey, carving out a new life with Besiktas.
The Super Lig club wanted him and were willing to pay around €20m to sign him. He had entered the final year of his Newcastle United contract, so it made sense for the Magpies to sell. After four seasons on Tyneside, perhaps a new start was best for everyone?
Not for Matthias Jaissle. Having spent a couple of weeks with Willock in pre-season, Newcastle’s new head coach was adamant he did not want to lose the midfielder and urged Ross Wilson and the rest of the club’s recruitment team not to accept Besiktas’ offer.
His pleas worked, with Willock remaining on Tyneside beyond the end of the transfer window, and less than a month into the new season, the 27-year-old has already proved his enduring value, scoring in the opening-day draw with Liverpool and grabbing the winner at Millwall that sent Newcastle into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.
“I am happy to still be here,” said Willock, who was never agitating for a move away from Tyneside despite the speculation that was swirling around him.
“It is a massive club and a club that has played a big part in my career.
“I am really happy to still be wearing the badge and this shirt and giving my all. It is an important club for me, and I am looking to push forward. We have big aspirations, so hopefully we can reach those goals.”
Willock has had his high points in a Newcastle shirt, most notably in the final few weeks of the 2020-21 season when he scored in seven consecutive Premier League matches, equalling a club record set by Alan Shearer.
There have also been tougher times though, when the former Arsenal trainee has found himself sidelined through injury or consigned to lengthy spells on the substitutes’ bench.
It often felt as though his face did not quite fit under Eddie Howe, although that was partly a result of the strength of midfield competition he was facing when Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton were locking out the central unit. Tonali and Guimaraes are gone now, along with Howe, and Willock appears to be benefiting from a new start under Jaissle.
“I feel valued,” said Willock.
“It is my fifth year at the club and I am really maturing in the way I think towards the team and getting older.
“There are a lot of young players coming in. It is a different role for me this season. I want to help others and push on in my career as well.
“The new manager has given me a new lease of life, I am really happy he’s here and happy working under him. He is a really young exciting coach and we are all learning a lot from him. It is good times to be a Newcastle player.”
Willock was the key figure at the Den on Tuesday night as his 81st-minute finish saw off Millwall and secured Newcastle’s passage from the third round of the Carabao Cup.
On a night when neither side was really threatening the opposition’s goal, Willock displayed impressive composure to clip Lewis Hall’s cross into the bottom corner with a slick first-time finish.
“I gave it a little Mesut [Ozil],” he said. “There was a little bounce-on-the-ground finish because we’d be working on it in training.
“To be fair, it was a good pass from Hally and we worked on it, if he got in that position he would cut it back. We knew that they had big defenders, so we wanted to exploit the cut-back position. I want more goals because that is missing from my game.”
Millwall had hit the post just a minute before Willock settled things, but the match-winner felt his side deserved to emerge from the Den victorious.
“We had to do the fundamentals right,” he said. “The gaffer told us before the game that they are big on second balls. So, it was important that we had a good second-ball game.
“We dominated the game and should have put a few chances away in the first half. In the second half, we did manage to do it and we are very happy to go through to the next round because it was a controlled performance.”
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Abdulhafiz Teslim
