Joe Willock’s Besiktas Move Benefits Arsenal
Arsenal’s summer business may be about to receive an unexpected nudge from the past.
Three years after Joe Willock swapped the Emirates for St James’ Park, the midfielder’s next move is lining up to hand the Gunners a tidy financial bonus, thanks to a sell-on clause quietly inserted into his 2021 transfer to Newcastle United.
Back then, Willock left north London for £25 million after a blistering loan spell on Tyneside. He arrived as a prospect, left as a goalscoring midfielder who had convinced Newcastle to commit serious money. Now, at 26 and entering the final year of his contract, his five-year stay in the North East looks close to ending.
This time the destination is Turkey.
Willock on brink of Besiktas switch
Newcastle have been in talks with Besiktas over a permanent deal worth around £17.4m, with an earlier £10m offer already knocked back earlier in the summer. ChronicleLive report that Willock’s agent has travelled to Turkey and that personal terms with the Super Lig side have been agreed.
The logic for Newcastle is clear. With just 12 months left on his contract at St James’ Park, this is the last realistic chance to secure a meaningful fee for a player who has served them well but no longer sits at the heart of their long-term rebuild.
Willock has made 168 appearances for the Magpies, scoring 11 goals and playing a key role in stabilising the club in the early days of their new ownership. His explosive loan spell in 2021, when he scored in seven consecutive Premier League games, effectively earned him that £25m move. The numbers since then have been more modest, but his contribution has been far from forgettable.
Now, though, both club and player appear ready for a clean break.
Arsenal’s smart clause comes into play
Arsenal, watching from afar, stand to benefit without lifting a finger.
Football.london understands that when the Gunners sanctioned Willock’s sale in 2021, they agreed a sell-on clause with Newcastle. The exact percentage remains undisclosed, but any cut of a £17.4m deal represents a welcome injection into Mikel Arteta’s transfer budget.
For a player who came through Hale End and cost the club nothing in transfer fees, it underlines the value of long-term planning. Willock broke into Arsenal’s first team in 2017 and scored on his Premier League debut against Newcastle in April 2018. Across four seasons, he made 78 appearances and scored 11 goals, before being moved on at the right time from a squad-building perspective.
Now, as he prepares for a fresh start in Istanbul, the club that shaped him are poised to cash in again.
Boost for a champion squad in transition
The timing could hardly be better for Arsenal. Arteta’s side, gearing up for a Premier League title defence, have already moved decisively in the market, adding Christos Tzolis, Piero Hincapie, Illan Meslier and Bruno Guimaraes to a squad that was already operating at an elite level.
Even so, the work is not finished.
Arsenal are still hunting a new left-winger. They explored a move for Morgan Rogers before Chelsea stepped in to sign the England international. Any faint hope of prising Vinicius Junior away from Real Madrid faded once the Brazilian agreed new terms at the Bernabeu.
That leaves Arsenal looking elsewhere, with the market for top-tier wide forwards as competitive and inflated as ever. Every extra pound matters. A sell-on clause activated in Turkey might not transform their budget, but it can tilt a negotiation, cover wages, bridge a valuation gap.
It can turn a “maybe” into a “yes”.
For Willock, the move to Besiktas offers a reset in a league that often gives attacking midfielders room to breathe and express themselves. For Arsenal, it is the quiet reward for a well-constructed deal, struck three summers ago and now maturing just when the champions need every edge they can find.
