Eddie Howe reveals Joe Willock reaction to viral ‘lost in York Maze’ fake story

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Eddie Howe has shared how Joe Willock reacted to a made-up story of him getting lost in ‘York Maze’ went viral over the international break.

The October international break has come to an end and Newcastle United will return to Premier League action on Saturday against bogey side Brighton.

Newcastle have failed to beat Brighton in their last five attempts and haven’t won at the Amex since 2017, so a tricky fixture is in store for Eddie Howe.

Thankfully, Newcastle have suffered no further injury problems during the international break and should welcome Jacob Ramsey back to the fold for the first time since August.

It was a successful international break for the likes of Nick Woltemade, Anthony Gordon and Bruno Guimaraes, but quite a strange one for Joe Willock.

• Who is Joe Willock? All you need to know about the Newcastle United midfielder

Joe Willock laughed off fake viral maze story

Some fans may recall a similar fake story that went viral in the summer, claiming that Newcastle had left Matt Targett in South Korea after their pre-season tour.

Well, the culprit then was X, formerly Twitter, user @FrancisChipp, and he was up to his old tricks during the international break.

On October 8, the user posted a fake story claiming that: “Newcastle United midfielder Joe Willock, 26, had to be rescued from York Maze after a distress call to emergency services was made at around 5pm on Tuesday.

“He had been lost in the UK’s largest maze for approximately six hours.”

The story was a spoof, but that didn’t stop it from going viral and fooling many people, including a BBC Radio 1 host.

Even Howe had to check it was true, and he was asked about it during his pre-Brighton press conference: “Yeah, I did discuss it with him, just to check whether it was true or not. Probably like everybody else.

“This was right in the early stages of it. Thankfully, it wasn’t. But, no, Joe is fine. He’s got the ability to laugh with it rather than be concerned about it.”

Newcastle’s official X account also had a laugh about the story, with their match graphic for Saturday’s game featuring Willock photoshopped into a corn maze.