Newcastle United agreed a fee for Joe Willock last week, and the deal finally looks to be going through after a breakthrough on personal terms.

In the last week, we covered reports that Arsenal and Newcastle United had agreed a deal worth up to £25m for the permanent transfer of Joe Willock in the current window. Yet there was initially little progress after that.

Willock was even spotted back at Arsenal this week, joking with teammates at London Colney. But the deal hasn’t fallen through, it was just stalling over the player’s personal terms.

Sky Sports’ Keith Downie reported that the lack of progress in the deal was due to a distance between Willock and Newcastle on terms. The Athletic also wrote that personal terms still needed to be finalised, with a fee already agreed.

But Mike McGrath now reports that Newcastle have made a breakthrough on personal terms, and Willock is set to complete the move.

From Willock’s point of view, you can understand why he held out for the best deal he can get. He knows how badly Newcastle want him, he’s already shown what he can give them on the pitch, so it was fairly inevitable they would reach a compromise eventually.