Darren Bent believes Arsenal have made a disastrous decision selling Joe Willock to Premier League rivals Newcastle United, as he told talkSPORT (17 August, 9.20am).
The irony was lost on precisely nobody.
As Mikel Arteta’s side did their very best to deflate all that pre-season optimism during the most ‘Arsenal-y’ of opening day defeats – out-thought and out-fought by a newly-promoted Brentford side, the decisive goal bundled home following a long throw – one of their most exciting homegrown talents was boarding a flight to Tyneside.
After weeks of ‘bashing away‘ – to use Steve Bruce’s rather unfortunate turn of phrase – Newcastle have finally agreed to sign Joe Willock on a permanent basis in a deal worth £25 million, according to Sky Sports.
If the England U21 international can come close to emulating the remarkable impact he made during a five-month loan spell on Tyneside last season – Willock broke Alan Shearer’s record by scoring in seven successive top-flight games while almost single-handedly saving the Magpies from relegation – that £25 million fee will look like a bargain.
Will Arsenal’s loss be Newcastle’s gain with Joe Willock?
“No they weren’t! No they were not,” said the Arsenal-mad Bent when asked if the London giants were right to cash in on the free-scoring attacking midfielder.
“We’ve seen (Mo) Elneny, we’ve seen (Granit) Xhaka. Xhaka’s time has passed now for me. Elneny has never really got started.
“But we’ve got a young player who’s hungry, who went out on loan to Newcastle and did very, very well, coming back full of confidence, hoping to be part of the squad, and then you just let him go.
“It’s brilliant news for Newcastle. They’ll absolutely love him up there. But, for Arsenal, it was the worst decision.”
Arsenal certainly could have done with a player like Willock on Friday, someone capable of driving into the penalty area and producing something out of nothing as they slumped to a depressing and well-deserved defeat in West London.
Willock scored eight Premier League goals in 2020/21 – more than Xhaka, Elneny, Thomas Partey, Dani Ceballos, Martin Odegaard, Emile Smith Rowe and Ainsley Maitland-Niles combined.
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