Arsenal have been transformed under the leadership of Mikel Arteta and Edu Gaspar over the last few years. The former has helped to make the team far more effective on the pitch, and the latter has helped turn things around in the transfer market.
For example, the North Londoners used to be known as terrible sellers and a team unable to get good money for their unwanted players, but with the Spaniard and Brazilian at the helm, that has changed.
Moreover, a particular area of improvement has been the Gunners’ ability to turn a massive profit on their academy stars in recent years, including one Premier League regular now worth millions less than he was sold for.
Arsenal’s academy sales
So, before we get to the player in question, let’s take a look at some of the club’s recent sales involving academy stars.
The club sanctioned two this summer, with the ever-popular Emile Smith Rowe moving to Fulham for a massive £34m, including add-ons, and Eddie Nketiah moving to Crystal Palace for up to £30m.
The fee for the former is undeniably impressive, as he played just 475 minutes of action across the entirety of last season and while the latter played 1393, it was clear he had no future at the club, so for Edu to get the fee he did for him was equally remarkable.
It wasn’t just this year, though, as last summer, the Brazilian also managed to collect a whopping £35m for American international Folarin Balogun after he enjoyed a stellar campaign in France for Stade Reims.
However, you must go back three years to find arguably the most impressive sale of an academy player under the leadership of Arteta and Edu.
Joe Willock’s valuation in 2024
The player in question is 25-year-old midfielder Joe Willock, who came up through the club’s youth system before making 78 first-team appearances between the 17/18 and 20/21 seasons.
However, when it was clear that he wasn’t in Arteta’s plans, he spent six months on loan at Newcastle United before he sealed a £25m move to the club in the summer of 2021, and as he was an academy player, that was £25m of profit for the Gunners.
Now, due to the Englishman’s impressive form on loan, when he scored eight goals in 14 games, some suggested Edu and Co could have asked for more, but this was at a time before Newcastle’s Saudi takeover and in the years since, the fee the Gunners received has been looking better and better.
This isn’t to say Willock has been a bad player for the Toon, but he has missed a whopping 48 games for them since making his move permanent, and while he has shown his quality here and there, he has also put in his fair share of “disappointing” performances as well, per The Athletic’s Chris Waugh.
In fact, in his 97 appearances since he joined the club on a permanent deal, he’s only scored eight goals and provided seven assists. This means he averaged a goal involvement once every 1.75 games while on loan but has averaged one every 6.46 games in the three seasons since.
| Willock’s Newcastle career | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 111 |
| Goals | 16 |
| Assists | 7 |
| Goal Involvements per Match | 0.20 |
| All Stats via Transfermarkt | |
Unsurprisingly, this underwhelming form and his injury problems have impacted his value, and, according to Football Transfers, he is now worth just €18.6m, which is about £15.5m, or £9.5m less than he earned the Gunners a few years ago.
Ultimately, Willock is a good player and one who deserves to be playing in the Premier League, but that is probably about it, and considering how things have gone in the years since, Arsenal did very well to get £25m for him.
