Joseph George Willock (born 20 August 1999) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for club

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

Club career

Arsenal

A youth product of

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, Willock joined Arsenal at age four-and-a-half, having been allowed to play alongside his older brothers. He made his first-team debut for the club on 20 September 2017 in the

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

against

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

. Willock made his

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

debut against

on 15 April 2018. He scored his first senior goal on 29 November 2018 in a 3–0

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

victory away at

Vorskla Poltava FC Vorskla Poltava ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Poltava. The team set to compete in Ukrainian First League, the second tier of Football in Ukraine, Ukrainian football after relegation from Ukrainian Premier League in ...

. He then scored his first brace in a 3–0 FA Cup victory away at

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

on 5 January 2019. On 12 September 2019, it was announced that Willock had signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal. On 19 September 2019, he played as Arsenal won 3–0 against

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

by scoring a deflected effort to open the scoring in the opening matchday of the

2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla FC, Sevill ...

. Willock scored his first goal at the

Emirates Stadium The Emirates Stadium (known as Arsenal Stadium for UEFA competitions) is a association football, football stadium in Holloway, London, England. It has been the home stadium of Arsenal F.C., Arsenal Football Club since its completion in 2006. ...

on 24 September 2019 after tapping-in Arsenal's third goal in a 5–0

win over

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

, set-up by

Héctor Bellerín Héctor Bellerín Moruno (born 19 March 1995) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a right-back or wing-back for La Liga club Real Betis. Bellerín started his career at Barcelona, and moved to Arsenal in 2011. He played 239 gam ...

. On 25 June 2020, he scored his first Premier League goal in a 2–0 win over

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

Newcastle United

On 1 February 2021, Willock joined

on loan for the remainder of the 2020–21 season. On 6 February, Willock scored in the 16th minute on his debut in a 3–2 win over Southampton. After scoring in three consecutive substitute appearances against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, Willock was rewarded with a start against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, where he was once again on target, scoring the opening goal in a 4–2 win. On 14 May, Willock scored in a 4–3 defeat against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. On 19 May, he scored in his sixth consecutive league game, becoming the youngest player in Premier League history to do so at the age of 21 years and 272 days, a record previously held by

Romelu Lukaku Romelu Lukaku Bolingoli (; born 13 May 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club SSC Napoli, Napoli and the Belgium national football team, Belgium national team. Lukaku began h ...

. This was surpassed by

Rasmus Højlund Rasmus Winther Højlund (; born 4 February 2003) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester United and the Denmark national team. Højlund graduated from Copenhagen's youth academy, making h ...

on 18 February 2024. Four days later, on the final day of the Premier League season, he scored again to equal the club record of consecutive games scored in, set by

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer (born 13 August 1970) is an English Association football, football pundit and former professional player who played as a striker (association football), striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of all time and one of t ...

. On 13 August 2021, Newcastle confirmed the signing of Willock on a six-year contract. The fee was reported to be £25 million. On 19 February 2022, Willock scored his first goal since signing permanently for the club, in a 1–1 draw against West Ham United. The following week, he scored Newcastle's second goal in a 2–0 win over

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

. On 16 March 2025 Joe Willock came off the bench to appear in the

2025 EFL Cup final The 2025 EFL Cup final was the final match of the 2024–25 EFL Cup. It was played between Liverpool and Newcastle United at Wembley Stadium in London, England, on 16 March 2025. It was the 65th EFL Cup final and the 18th to be played at the re ...

and become part of the first Newcastle United team to win a major domestic honour in 70 years. Willock had scored the team's only goal against

in the second round of the tournament to help the club's to the final.

International career

Willock scored for the England under-16 team against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in the 2014

Victory Shield The Victory Shield is an annual football (soccer), football tournament competed for by the under-16 teams of Scotland national under-16 football team, Scotland, Republic of Ireland national under-16 football team, Republic of Ireland, Northern Irel ...

. He also represented the England under-19 team but was one of a number of players withdrawn from selection for the

2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2018) was the 17th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (67th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth foot ...

by their club. Willock represented the England under-20 team in the

2018–19 Under 20 Elite League The 2018–19 Under 20 Elite League (sometimes referred to as the European Elite League) was an age-restricted association football tournament for national Under-20 teams. It was the second edition of the Under 20 Elite League The Under 20 Elite ...

and scored the winning goals in games against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Willock was a member of an England Under-20 side at the

2019 Toulon Tournament The 2019 Toulon Tournament (officially ) was the 47th edition of the Toulon Tournament. It was held in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône from 1 to 15 June 2019. England were the defending champions but they were eliminated in the group stage. I ...

and scored in group stage defeats against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and Chile. On 30 August 2019, Willock was included in the England under-21 squad for the first time but had to withdraw due to injury. He eventually made his U21 debut on 11 October 2019 during a 2–2 draw with

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

in Maribor.

Personal life

Willock was born in Walthamstow which is located in

Waltham Forest The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is an outer London borough formed in 1965 from the merger of the municipal boroughs of Leyton, Walthamstow and Chingford. The borough's administrative headquarters are at Waltham Forest Town Hall, wh ...

, Greater London. His brothers,

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, and Christine. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian autho ...

and

Matty Matty is a given name or nickname, frequently of the male given name Matthew. It can also be a surname. People with the given name or nickname Notable people with the given name or nickname include: A–E * Matty Alou (1938–2011), Major League ...

, are also footballers. All three brothers shared a pitch when Manchester United played a reserve game against Arsenal in May 2017. He is of

Montserrat Montserrat ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, wit ...

ian descent.

Career statistics

Honours

Arsenal *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

: 2019–20 *

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is Football in England, English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

runner-up: 2018–19 Newcastle United *

: 2024–25; runner-up:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Individual *

Premier League Player of the Month The Premier League Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Premier League player each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to 1 ...

: May 2021

References

External links

Profile
at the Newcastle United F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Willock, Joseph 1999 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Waltham Forest English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Arsenal F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Premier League players England men's youth international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Black British sportsmen 21st-century Black British people English people of Montserratian descent 21st-century English sportsmen