Arsenal: Joe Willock not the super-sub of the future

Joe Willock has made 16 appearances for Arsenal this season, 10 coming as a sub. He is at a stage of his career where being a perennial super-sub cannot work for much longer. He needs stability, and soon.

Arsenal’s youth system has brought some real talents in recent years. Bukayo Saka has an elite combination of drive and guile off the left. Reiss Nelson is a classic, chalk-on-your-boots right-winger with excellent technique and a whole host of dazzling skills in his locker.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles is a proverbial Swiss-Army knife, available to play anywhere on the field. Eddie Nketiah, on loan at Leeds United but soon to return, is a clinical finisher, and can find the net if even a shred of opportunity goes his way.But arguably the crown jewels of this academy era are the attacking midfielders: Joe Willock and Emile Smith-Rowe.

Both best when deployed in a number 10 role, Willock makes sweeping runs and is dynamic on and off the ball, his insatiable energy driving an effective pressing system. Smith-Rowe plays with a bit more finesse, he is incredible on the half-turn, and displays an exceptional range of passing for his age. But at a year younger, Smith-Rowe seems to draw more headlines, whereas Willock is kind of just… there.

Smith-Rowe floats into pockets of space, creating chances and driving with the ball at his feet before releasing an inch-perfect pass to a teammate. He is the proud owner of the moniker of  “the next Kevin De Bruyne,” a name awarded by fans and journalists alike. He has so much untapped potential, and many are calling for him to ascend to the first team.

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Willock is less widely praised, but there is no doubting his quality. He is industrious, moreso than Smith-Rowe; he never stops working for the cause. He shows passion and energy, as do most young players, but his restraint and patience lead do a calm demeanor on the ball which belies his tender age. However, despite all of those sterling traits, he does not get the gametime his talent and abilities warrant, and is consistently overlooked. He is used primarily as a substitute, and usually with the purpose of injecting energy into a tired game. While I respect that as a tactical move, it is a waste of Willock’s talents.

His versatility is part of that issue. He is not a perfect number 10, nor does he fit exactly into the number 8 role. Unai Emery shifted him between the two with such unerring regularity that he lost all shred of consistency, and dipped in form. He has not recovered since, and has lacked in confidence as a result, leading to even less playing time.

He has only started six league games this year, and has only played the full 90 minutes once. When he was brought on under Unai Emery, it was often as a deeper-lying box-to-box midfielder, showing Emery’s tactical ineptitude twice over. But even under Arteta, he has only appeared as a substitute, and only ever after the 75th minute. Well no more.

We lost Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain because he was not playing enough. Now he has a Champion’s League winners medal. If he was quality enough for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side, he was good enough for us. We’re now falling into the same trap with Willock. No player wants to play off the bench every week. He wants to start. Score. Perform week in and week out.

Willock has never had a defined place in this Arsenal squad. And maybe he will, under Arteta. But until that happens, I will press this issue. Because if we don’t find him stability soon, whether in the first team, or elsewhere in Europe, we might lose him forever. Just because he’s an academy product doesn’t mean he won’t leave.