Arsenal Academy Graduate Thanks Club Legend For First Team Spot

One of the latest graduates from the Arsenal Academy to break into the senior team, Joe Willock has attributed his success to Gunners legend, Freddie Ljungberg.

The Swede was promoted to assistant first-team coach after being the manager of the U21s last season. He was part of Arsenal’s invincibles squad and is probably one of the best midfielders to have ever played for the club.

“Freddie is not only such a legend at the club, he’s an unbelievable manager and coach,” Willock told Football London. “He’s a mentor for me, he showed me a lot behind the scenes that people don’t really know about. Every day I’m working with him and I’m learning from him. He has improved me a lot and I’m just trying to get better every day.

“Yes. It’s nice for him to follow me up to the first-team as well, it makes me feel more comfortable because obviously, I worked with him last year. It’s a familiar face for me, it’s brilliant.

“To be honest, he’s improved my whole overall game. If I’m being specific, getting in the pockets when I’m playing No.10 and attacking at No.8. He showed me a lot of different tactics to get space and turn to attack other teams. Those are the main things really.”

“For me, my head was always about playing for the Arsenal first-team, that’s always been my dream as a young buy coming through the academy as a six-year-old,” he added. “It was always to play for Arsenal so I wasn’t looking for anything else. When Unai showed confidence in me in pre-season it was inevitable in my head that I was going to stay.”