Joe Willock has joined Newcastle United on loan from Arsenal for the remainder of the season, and fans are hoping the talented youngster can shake things up.
The midfield has largely not been good enough this term, and the need was clear for reinforcements to arrive in the winter transfer window.
Realistically the club should have looked to bring in one more, but Willock is in and will hopefully make an impact.
The star is in contention to play against Southampton on Saturday and it will be interesting to see if he starts. Here are three Magpies players whose starting prospects could be affected by Willock joining the club:
Jonjo Shelvey
He wore the captain’s armband in the absence of Jamaal Lascelles last night, but Shelvey’s status are a starter will surely come under threat with Willock now in the picture.
Isaac Hayden is the better defensive midfielder of the two, and Bruce could perhaps be looking to use Miguel Almiron and Willock as advanced midfielders with Hayden holding.
It’s a system top teams like Manchester City and Liverpool adopt and Bruce doing the same could mean the bench will beckon for £12 million maestro Shelvey (BBC Sport).
Matty Longstaff
The more attack-minded Longstaff brother hasn’t featured an awful lot this season and could feature even less now.
There was talk of him departing for Watford on deadline day, with the Chronicle claiming an approach had been dismissed by Newcastle at the weekend, but he stayed put, and one wonders if a loan exit would perhaps have benefitted him.
Elliot Anderson
According to Lee Ryder, Newcastle rebuffed a number of approaches from Championship sides for Anderson on deadline day.
Supposedly Steve Bruce wanted to hang on to him to try and use him in the first-team.
It’s difficult to see where those first-team minutes will now come from following the arrival of Willock, and he could well go back to playing for the U23s for the time being.
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