Joe Willock

[Funtime Frankie]

4 minutes ago, PauloGeordio said:

Willock, Wilson, Longy, Targett to go. Oh and fecking Hayden!

And 2 of the goalies at least

[PauloGeordio]

Just now, Funtime Frankie said:

And 2 of the goalies at least

Dubs and the Greek.

[Holloway]

aye I can't see him turning things around now, he'll fetch about 20m

[The College Dropout]

So frustrating when he blazes those opportunities over the bar and wide.  At least force a save man. 

[PauloGeordio]

18 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

So frustrating when he blazes those opportunities over the bar and wide.  At least force a save man. 

Scored a great winner at home to Chewsee a few seasons back. Can’t remember him doing anything since! 

[wong989]

Shame he couldn’t stay fit enough to be ready when a starting spot opened…has to go now surely, we badly need a quick attack minded midfielder. A fit Willock who’d improved even slightly over the years would have made such a difference 

[MagMal]

Ffp sacrifice this summer

[ikri]

43 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

So frustrating when he blazes those opportunities over the bar and wide.  At least force a save man. 

 

If he could stay consistently fit and finish half the chances he gets he'd be one of the best midfielders in the league.  But he can't, so he's more often a passenger than a threat.

[The College Dropout]

Rather he start Willock against Everton than Miley

[duo]

1 minute ago, The College Dropout said:

Rather he start Willock against Everton than Miley

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Willock’s got to go I reckon, or the coaches have to do some serious dedicated work with him.
 

Possibly needs a Joelinton-style transformation either into a CM or a forward. At the moment he’s neither. 

[PauloGeordio]

4 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Willock’s got to go I reckon, or the coaches have to do some serious dedicated work with him.
 

Possibly needs a Joelinton-style transformation either into a CM or a forward. At the moment he’s neither. 

A forward hits the back of the net. Little Joe can’t hit the barn door! Move him on. 

[alexf]

He looked faster and sharper in his movements when he came on than recently, but his technique is always lacking. Was a really poor effort when he chopped on to his left. 

 

Should be the easy answer to slot in for Joelinton on that left side next week of we want to go back to the 433, but the trust is gone with Willock now. I don't know if we can rely on him in such an important game anymore. 

[et tu brute]

13 minutes ago, alexf said:

He looked faster and sharper in his movements when he came on than recently, but his technique is always lacking. Was a really poor effort when he chopped on to his left. 

 

Should be the easy answer to slot in for Joelinton on that left side next week of we want to go back to the 433, but the trust is gone with Willock now. I don't know if we can rely on him in such an important game anymore. 

We have to be looking to move him on. His injury record is poor and he certainly isn't performing to a level where he's even a good backup option from the bench. We could still probably get 15-20 million for him, which will add to the funds from Almiron and Kelly (hopefully Longstaff also). With the PSR room we have and hopefully Champions League revenue, we could be in a decent position to greatly improve the squad.

[alexf]

Players can get stale or pick up too many injuries that diminish their output. 

 

It's why I get a little envious when a see how quickly Villa churn through players. Sure ok they had the academy and head start on us to be able to sell better, but they don't seem to mess around with getting players in and out and have decent squad depth overall now. 

 

Really hope we can win next week and start a bit of a squad refresh this summer with the extra funds.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 00:11 by alexf

[ExiledGeordie]

10 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

So frustrating when he blazes those opportunities over the bar and wide.  At least force a save man. 

He's another with erratic finishing, we could do with signing some better finishers this summer.  

[Nucasol]

This is the chance to really reshape and bolster the squad for a sustained push in the leagues and cups. Selling Willock and Longstaff could be another £30m to £40m to help with that.

[SUPERTOON]

4 minutes ago, Nucasol said:

This is the chance to really reshape and bolster the squad for a sustained push in the leagues and cups. Selling Willock and Longstaff could be another £30m to £40m to help with that.

30 max for the both imo, would certianly take it if we could replace with better. 

[Mattoon]

Have to agree with consensus here, Willock has given us some great performances in the past and been an integral part of getting us where we are now. However, much like a few others in the squad such as Wilson, Longstaff, Target, etc... he's past his sell by date now and we need to recoup what we can to move forward.

 

We're on the bring of something special, a few new starters and a reshaping of what's available from the bench and we could have a seriously good season 25/26 but a big part of that is moving on players like Willock.

[johnny36]

The coaching staff should be doing shooting drills with Willock..His shots on goal are going way over the bar or off target..I miss the 2021 version where he was scoring every game

[Holmesy]

On 16/05/2025 at 09:58, The College Dropout said:

I never understood trying to sell a relatively young player on a low-ebb for cheap unless desperate for money.

Because being brutally honest, he's no good to us. He hasn't ever had end product and he's not going to develop it now. He has undoubted ability but we need all of our midfielder to contribute more than just work rate and carrying the ball forward. If he's in an advanced position in the squad, he needs to contribute goal involvements and he's shown time and again that he isn't capable of that. If we can get £25m for him and replace him with a younger player with end product, it's unfortunately a no-brainer. The acid test is would he get in the the first team of the other clubs around us - Arsenal, Villa, City, even Forest? He just wouldn't. Palace, Brentford, Fulham, West Ham is his level. We need to level up from the likes of him and Lascelles, Longstaff, Wilson etc.

[TRon]

On 18/05/2025 at 19:50, The College Dropout said:

So frustrating when he blazes those opportunities over the bar and wide.  At least force a save man. 

 

Very frustrating, because it was good work to get into that position in the first place. He offers threat, but fails to follow through.

[The College Dropout]

1 hour ago, TRon said:

 

Very frustrating, because it was good work to get into that position in the first place. He offers threat, but fails to follow through.

Aye - even a shot on target is something. Force a save, maybe get a corner, parried back into danger or continue the attack. Something.

 

1 hour ago, Holmesy said:

Because being brutally honest, he's no good to us. He hasn't ever had end product and he's not going to develop it now. He has undoubted ability but we need all of our midfielder to contribute more than just work rate and carrying the ball forward. If he's in an advanced position in the squad, he needs to contribute goal involvements and he's shown time and again that he isn't capable of that. If we can get £25m for him and replace him with a younger player with end product, it's unfortunately a no-brainer. The acid test is would he get in the the first team of the other clubs around us - Arsenal, Villa, City, even Forest? He just wouldn't. Palace, Brentford, Fulham, West Ham is his level. We need to level up from the likes of him and Lascelles, Longstaff, Wilson etc.

My point is - let's try and sell on a high if we have the luxury of loaning him out.

 

I don't see a genuine £25m offer coming in for him this summer. £8m-20m. I can see him going to the Champ or somewhere like West Ham. Based on the last couple of seasons,  he's a level below what Palace and Fulham are after.