Highly rated Arsenal academy striker rejected advances from Premier League “big guns” to move abroad. Chris Willock left the Gunners last season for Portuguese league outfit SL Benfica in order to have breakthrough in their first team but he has quite not made the mark yet as he has so far appeared only for their B team, Chris joined Arsenal when has was just 5 years old and has since represented them in various junior levels and he was also handed his first team debut by Arsene Wenger in September 2016 against Nottingham Forrest in the League Cup.
Willock was fed up with the lack of first team opportunities at the Emirates and hence decided to leave for more game time and hence moved abroad to Liga Nos side SL Benfica and signed a five year contract but as of now he has only featured for their B team and has yet to make an appearance for the senior team.
Willock has made a good name for himself in the England youth system and he is highly rated by many English clubs as a result he was not short of offers when decided to leave the Gunners and the youngster had pretty good offers on the table from a few Premier league clubs namely Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, but he chose to move abroad and sign for SL Benfica.
The youngster has even garnered interests from a few more Premier League clubs namely Watford, Bournemouth and Huddersfield and their might be a possibility of him returning back to England as he has not yet made a name for himself in Portugal failing to even make the Senior squad of Benfica and after his expulsion from the Portuguese club’s pre-season campaign he may very well look for a new team.
Scottish Premiership giants Celtic are also heavily interested in the 20 year old forward and are monitoring his situation at Benfica, The Celts manager Brendan Rodgers wanted to bring in Chris Willock as a replacement for departing loanee Patrick Roberts who spent two successive seasons at the Celtic Park and their were a few rumors about Robert making a permanent switch to Scotland from Manchester City but Pep Guardiola wanted to hold onto the 21 year old and as a result loaned him to Catalan side Girona FC on a season long loan deal.
Celtic also got a major blow this summer as star player Moussa Dembele left them for French Ligue 1 side Lyon for a reported fee of €22m and penned a 5 year contract, Hence Brendan Rodgers needs filling in the final third and might go ahead and make a move for Chris Willock in the winter transfer window before any of the Premier League clubs come snooping, Chris might be a great addition to Rodgers squad and will definitely get the taste of regular play time and might even develop his skills under Brendan Rodgers and eventually return the Premier League.
