Once considered the most promising of the Willock brothers, Chris Willock is starting to deliver on his potential with Queens Park Rangers.

Emile Smith Rowe with Chris Willock for Huddersfield Town (Photo via Twitter / HTAFC)
Emile Smith Rowe with Chris Willock for Huddersfield Town (Photo via Twitter / HTAFC)

For followers of the Arsenal academy, it was relatively surprising to see Joe Willock breaking into the first team whilst Chris moved away to play for Benfica B.

Chris had been one of Arsenal’s top talents, whilst Joe was a bit of a late bloomer, and for a long time seemed a bit raw for Premier League football.

Chris played as a regular at every level from the u16s to the u20s for England, and it looked only a matter of time before he made the u21s and beyond.

Yet his move to Benfica stalled his progress. The winger never made the step up from Benfica B to the first-team, and his loan spells back to England with West Brom and Huddersfield were relatively uninspiring.

Eventually, Benfica decided to move on, selling Willock to Queens Park Rangers in 2020.

After a season of adaptation that was decent at best in 2020/21, Chris is finally finding his feet this campaign.

The 23-year-old has five goals and four assists this season, including four goal contributions in his last four games. He’s part of a QPR side driving up the table into third place, with a realistic play-off promotion charge on the cards.

ENFIELD, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 18: Joe Muscatt of Tottenham Hotspur puts pressure on Chris Willock of Arsenal during the Premier League 2 match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at at Tottenham Hotspur Training Centre on November 18, 2016 in Enfield, England. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
ENFIELD, ENGLAND: Joe Muscatt of Tottenham Hotspur puts pressure on Chris Willock of Arsenal during the Premier League 2 match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at Tottenham Hotspur Training Centre on November 18, 2016. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

Just as he did in youth football, Willock is excelling in creating chances and completing dribbles. He’s top-10 in the league for the latter.

It’s actually not a completely unrealistic impossibility that Chris may end up trading places with his brother, if this continues.

Newcastle United are in dire form and tipped for relegation, and on current form you wouldn’t put it past QPR to pass Newcastle on their way down.

It’s taken a while for Joe’s older brother to start looking like his Arsenal u23 self in senior football, but he’ll now be eyeing up a Premier League future in west London.