Arsenal: Specificity would do Joe Willock a world of good

Some players need freedom to be at their best, but for Joe Willock he may need the opposite first in order to get to that at Arsenal.

Arsenal has a wealth of youngsters breaking through the youth ranks and into the Premier League set-up. The charge is being led by Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka, but Eddie Nketiah is quickly catching up, Emile Smith Rowe is rocking out at Huddersfield and you’d be a fool to forget about Joe Willock.

What makes Willock so different is that he has yet to really assert any sort of clear identity. He’s just a great athlete, with a tendency to do a little bit of everything. While that may seem useful—and it is—there’s a value in being a specific kind of player.

That’s how you end up avoiding getting into a situation like Ainsley Maitland-Niles is in, where no one has ever really known how to use him properly.

Willock is just such a loose cannon. He’s got tremendous athleticism, an eye for the attack and the work rate of a champ, but the fine-tuning is lacking.

He’s also played across numerous positions, all based in the midfield, but sometimes moving wide, pushing up or moving back. It just depends on any given situation and match-up.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

Speaking about Willock, Mikel Arteta had a lot to say about his belief in the young man, despite the inconsistent game time.

Here’s what Arteta had to say about him:

"I think so. I think he’s perfect to play in that role. I think he’s got incredible physical attributes but as well he’s a very intelligent boy. He learns really quickly, he’s very willing, I think he’s developing really really well and I’m very pleased with him."

Still, giving him some sort of directive, some sort of “do this first and foremost” may help him get a better grip on his identity as a player and what he is best suited doing on a match by match basis.

Then again, the alternative is hoping he can turn out something like Dani Ceballos or Aaron Ramsey, where he does have that freedom to just go and do what he likes when he likes it, but those kinds of midfielders are hard to come by and harder still to rely on, as they have so many variables going through the machine at any given moment.

Whatever the case, the lad has a future, and that’s good news for everyone involved.