Joe Willock insists he’s fully focused on the current task at hand, getting results for Newcastle United, not worrying about his parent club.

Arsenal midfielder Joe Willock has had a very positive start to his Newcastle United loan so far.

After completing a deadline-day move last week on Monday, he immediately impressed Steve Bruce in training enough to get a start at the weekend, which he duly capped off with a debut goal against Southampton.

From Mikel Arteta’s point of view, the aim of this loan is to get Willock playing regularly in the Premier League so he’s ready to push on with Arsenal in the future. However, the player himself insists he’s not thinking beyond this season at the moment.

“I’m trying to focus on what I have to do now, focus on Newcastle United,” Willock said. “I’m here to prove to Newcastle United that I can play every week and affect the games and win games for them.

“I’m not really looking at Arsenal, when that time comes for me to make a decision to go back or not that will come but right now, I’m focused on Newcastle and I’m loving every minute that I’m here.”

Willock had only made two Premier League starts for Arsenal in the first half of the campaign, both in November during the period where Thomas Partey was injured and Emile Smith Rowe hadn’t yet broken back into the team following his own fitness problems.

Other than that, the 21-year-old hardly got a chance in the league. He was much more successful in the Europa League group stage, scoring three goals and assisting four in five games.

It’s good to see he’s made a good first impression, but with matches against Chelsea and Manchester United coming up next, Willock is in for a real test now.