MIKEL ARTETA has continued his Arsenal clear-out, with Joe Willock joining Newcastle on loan for the rest of the season.
The 21-year-old midfielder followed Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Shkodran Mustafi through the Emirates exit just hours before the transfer window closed.
Joe Willock, 21, has joined Newcastle on a season-long loanCredit: AP:Associated Press
And with Mesut Ozil, Sead Kolasinac, Sokratis Papastatopoulos and William Saliba also going out in January it leaves Arsenal with a considerably slimmed down squad for the second half of the season.
Like Maitland-Niles, Willock was keen to secure a loan move to enable him to gain regular first team football.
Although he had been the stand-out star of Arsenal’s Europa League campaign, he had managed only two Premier League starts all season.
Now he is hoping to get a regular run in Steve Bruce’s team after Newcastle agreed to pay a loan fee of around £1million.
Maitland-Niles has joined struggling West Brom for a similar fee while Arsenal terminated Mustafi’s contract to allow him to leave as a free agent.
The much-maligned German international defender only had six months of his Emirates contract to run and has now joined Kolasinac at Bundesliga strugglers Schalke.
Arteta had to free up spaces in his squad to allow him to register recent loan signings Martin Odegaard and Mat Ryan for the later stages of the Europa League.
He said: “We had some priorities that we wanted to get done in this window and we have managed to do some of them.”
Ainsley Maitland-Niles has also left on loanCredit: AFP – Getty
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In matters on the pitch, Arsenal could overtake neighbours Spurs and Chelsea with a win over Wolves on Tuesday night.
And boss Arteta may be boosted by the return of skipper Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The Gabonese star has missed three games while taking care of his unwell mother, but was back in training ahead of the Molineux clash.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has returned to training at London ColneyCredit: Getty Images – Getty
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
