Arsenal: Chris Willock transfer talk a good sign

Arsenal’s youngster Chris Willock is being linked to a shock move to Manchester City. This news is certainly a positive sign.

It has been a quiet few days for Arsenal in the transfer window. Rumors involving Alexandre Lacazette, Kylian Mbappe, Riyad Mahrez, etc., have all calmed down. However, one unexpected name has started swirling around the transfer news.

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Arsenal certainly has a plethora of young players that can contribute in a huge way once they develop and gain additional experience. Players such as Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Alex Iwobi, and Chuba Akpom, to name a few, have potential to be fantastic players. But none of these three players are being linked to anybody. The player that is? That would be winger Chris Willock.

According to reports, Willock is being courted by Manchester City on a free transfer. Willock’s contract expires this month and Pep looks determined to bring in the 19-year-old. There are two sides to this: the good and bad. However, the good certainly counters the bad. So let’s start off to why this may be bad:

Yes, Willock is not a household name (yet at least) and it wouldn’t kill us if he were to leave. But this kid has potential and it would be dreadful to see him thrive under Pep at Man City. He has put in three shots behind the keeper and notched eight assists in the Premier League 2 this season. These aren’t standout numbers but they sure are solid and surely confidence boosters especially since he is still growing.

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So the real bad issue with this is that we could miss out on a huge talent like Willock if he leaves, but if he won’t get much first team with Arsenal, it is better to send him off anyways. If he finds a way to thrive under Pep, at least we can say he grew up with us!

Now it’s bad in a small area (because if he doesn’t thrive with Man City then we easily benefited) but this is also really good news for the Gunners.

Whenever you have players that are wanted by other teams, it really means only one thing: those players have the skill. Unless you want to throw in panic buys as a reason but let’s exclude that. Manchester City is obviously a club with a ton of cash at their disposal and for them to want Willock out of all players must surely mean something.

I take it that Arsenal have some serious young talent brewing underneath all of the major noise (major noise being everything regarding the first-team). Arsenal really have a ton of young players to look forward to. Some of my personal favorites are Eddie Nketiah, Kelechi Nwakali, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, and Cohen Bramall.

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If we aren’t able to retain Willock, the only thing to worry about is if he actually becomes a huge first-team player for Man City. Arsenal have some serious young talent and teams are starting to take notice.