Mikel Arteta reveals why Arsenal decided to sell Joe Willock

Arsenal youngster Joe Willock who joined the North London club at a very young age was in this summer transfer window sold to Newcastle United for a fee believed to be around £25million. Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has for the first time spoken out on the reason they sold Joe Willock who many were looking forward to see in action this season.

Joe Willock did not get game time at Arsenal last season as Mikel Arteta had other options that he preferred and so they decided to loan him to Newcastle United who were in need of a central attacking midfielder and he surprised everyone by scoring 8 Premier League goals. Joe Willock then received a lot of interest from many  clubs including Newcastle United in this summer transfer window but some Arsenal fans were hopeful that the club would keep him and use him this season since they lacked goal scoring midfielders last season.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta faced the media on Friday and was asked about why they decided to sell Joe Willock to Newcastle United and he explained that they were unable to promise him the game time that he needed since his ambitions had changed after his loan spell with The Magpies.

“Well, we’ve seen Joe here for a long time in different stages of his career and Joe is a player that we valued and we liked so much. After that spell, obviously his profile changed, his ambitions personally changed, and the game time that he needed was very different to what we could give him in this moment.” Joe Willock told Arsenal Player.