Willock did just that, but he does not attempt to hide any of the personal problems he endured. I came here and I was expected to be one of the main players to get us out of trouble.' I wouldn't say it was easy, but it wasn't as competitive as playing for Newcastle. 'There was nothing like the same pressure there. Even when I played in the first team it was like, 'oh he's just a young kid'. I was a young kid coming through the age groups, then a young player trying to break into the first team. 'To experience a totally different dressing room environment, under a different manager, playing with real pressure on your shoulders because we were in that relegation battle, it was the making of me.

It was a tough experience, because I'd been so sheltered at Arsenal. 'I was also joining a team that was fighting relegation. I'd never been this far north before, I'd never visited Newcastle. 'Leaving London, leaving Arsenal and coming into the unknown really, it was hard but it was the right time. 'At the time, it was overwhelming,' Willock explained, his wide eyes dominating his boyish face. Pulled away from all his family and friends, as well as the comfortable and reassuring surroundings of Arsenal, Willock struggled after agreeing to turn a loan into a permanent move in the summer of 2021. Living on his own, in the middle of the Northumbrian countryside, he wondered if he had made an awful mistake. When Joe Willock ends this interview saying he feels at home at Newcastle United, happy, and settled, playing the best football of his career, under a brilliant manager alongside team-mates he has come to think of as family, it is a more powerful statement than you might realise.įor the first time, Willock, whose excellent performances this season have pushed him to the periphery of the England squad, has revealed he suffered terribly with homesickness.

Homesick for another world book