Joe Willock admits he wasn’t settled after making permanent Newcastle switch

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Newcastle United midfielder Joe Willock has admitted it took him some time to settle after turning his move to the club permanent last summer.

The youngster is currently in a great moment for the Magpies.

He’s been in really good form since the end of January, stepping up in a big way for Newcastle along with fellow midfielders Jonjo Shelvey and Joelinton.

Ironically, his form picked up after the arrival of Bruno Guimaraes from Lyon.

It’s been really good to see Willock being influential again.

The star had a really tough first half of the season. That came as a surprise to some Toon fans given how good his loan spell went last season.

Obviously, no one expected him to continue scoring goals as regularly as he did whilst on loan.

But people had been slightly disappointed with his lack of impact after completing his £25 million transfer from Arsenal.

Willock has been speaking about that period with the club’s official website. He admitted he simply found it hard to settle after becoming a permanent Newcastle player.

He said: “If I’m really honest with you, I wasn’t settled in at the start.

“I didn’t feel it was easy as it would have been. Coming here on loan was maybe a bit easier because maybe I knew I was going back to London and to see my family.

“Coming here permanently and signing a long-term contract, it was a totally different mindset and very hard to adapt.”

With time, Willock has been able to get comfortable in the north east. That’s something he partially credits his teammates and the Toon faithful for.

He also lives with his father, and a dog by the name of ‘Teddy’.

Great to hear such honesty and vulnerability from Joe Willock

It is really interesting to hear Willock talk about those first few months of this season.

Obviously the whole team was struggling under the previous manager. There was a lot of doom and gloom about the club pre-takeover.

Willock put in some poor displays, but it’s clear they were down to him just not really being comfortable.

He may have thrived on loan, but as he says, he had that feeling he would be going back to London at the end of his stint.

He ended up making a big-money move, to a club very far away from his beginnings.

It is completely understandable that he initially had a bit of trouble settling in. But it’s brilliant to see him starting to perform again for the Magpies, and the fans will always have his back so long as he plays for the badge.