Newcastle United finally signed last season's loan sensation Joe Willock for £25M from Arsenal to kickstart the club's transfer market business for the 2021/22 season and conclude a protracted transfer saga that always looked to end with Willock, a player who made his Premier League debut at St. James' Park for Arsenal, a Newcastle player.

Its a permanent signing on a 6-year deal that I anticipated in my transfer special two months ago with a fee around the £20M mark being very good value for a young English player with a bright future ahead of him & experience of succeeding at St. James' Park.

United boss Steve Bruce refused to give up on the box-to-box player he has wanted to build a team around since becoming Newcastle manager and finally got on loan in the January transfer window to help transform Newcastle's season and was delighted to finally get his man on a permanent basis ahead of the big 2021/22 season kick-off.

Willock, who turns 22 on the 20th of August a week after the new season kicks off, signs from The Gunners after scoring 8 goals in 14 games for the club whose supporters he joyously dubbed "Maggies" after arriving at St. James' Park in February, scoring on his debut against Southampton & in each of the final 7 games of the season to become the youngest player and only midfielder in Premier League history to score in 7 consecutive Premier League games and he will be seeking an 8th against West Ham.

Signed to inject more athleticism & goals into The Magpies midfield and the running power to bridge defence & attack with & without the ball, he proved a goal-scoring, record-breaking superstar scoring on his debut inside 16 minutes against Southampton:

and against five of last season's Top 7 teams - Man City, Liverpool, Spurs, West Ham and Leicester - in a 7-game scoring streak to end the season that equalled Newcastle's record signing Alan Shearer's own record of scoring in 7 consecutive games he played for the club between September & November 1996 but Willock's achievement is perhaps even more impressive as Shearer missed games with injury during his streak.

Newcastle's own record with The Fab Four - Joe Willock, Callum Wilson, Allan Saint-Maximum and Miguel Almiron- starting in the same line-up isn't bad either just two games into the experiment but considering they were 3-1 up against Southampton in 45 minutes and 4-0 up away to Leicester with the quartet, it bodes well for the future:

Following the latest delay in the long-running #NUFCTakeover saga with the court of arbitration pushed back until January, 2022 at the earliest, Willock's arrival will be a welcome and much-needed boost with the Premier League season starting on Friday night when Arsenal play Brentford with Newcastle playing West Ham on Sunday.

After outscoring all of Arsenal's midfielders put together in The Premier League last season in a black and white shirt, Willock's departure has been met with a mixed response from fans of The Emirates-based club with some 'deflated' at the news of the sale of a young Englishman who has been at the club since he was 4 years old and some bemoaning the loss of a 'natural born goalscorer' who wasn't given a chance as the club sought to sign Leicester 's James Madison who looks set to arrive for £60M.

Arsenal's loss is Newcastle gain as Willock will bring dynamism, energy & positivity to St. James' Park as well as the goals which made him such a revelation last season & it is a transfer breakthrough Newcastle desperately needed and engineered following the departures of Yoshi Muto, Florian Lejeune, Henri Saviet, Cristian Atsu and Andy Carroll.

Newcastle rounded off their pre-season friendlies in style on Saturday in front of a 20,000 crowd beating Premier League new boys Norwich City 3-0 with second half goals from Matt Ritchie and a brace from Dwight Gayle after half-time substitutes JonJo Shelvey, Ryan Fraser and Allan Saint-Maximum turned the game on its head.

Steve Bruce's "bashing away" and patience has paid off with Willock's capture and he now has a centre back & midfielder in his sights - potentially Phil Jones from Manchester United and Chelsea's Ross Barkley - as Newcastle prepare for the big Premier League kick off at St. James' Park on Sunday. Come on The Maggies!