It's been a busy summer for the Willock family.
While Joe has been making waves in the first team here in London, his brothers Chris and Matty have both been on the move.
Chris, formerly of our academy, has now joined West Bromwich Albion on loan from Benfica, while Matty has moved to League One side Gillingham.
We caught up with Joe recently – and this is what he said:
on whether his family have been busy over the summer…
It's been a very exciting and busy summer, as you said. My dad deals with all of our affairs because he's our agent, so he's been running up and down, Birmingham and back - and he had to go to Gillingham where my other brother is playing. He's doing a lot of running up and down so it's a bit busy for him, but it's exciting times for my family because I know what my brothers can do, so now that they're back in England on home soil I feel like they can push on, the same as me.
on Chris moving back to England…
For me both of my brothers are big role models, but Chris because he's so close to me growing up in the academy together to have him back and see him quite often again is amazing. The only thing I can do is tell him about my experience and he can tell me about his experience so we can learn from each other, so hopefully it helps each other to push on.
on his brother showing the bravery to move abroad…
For me I feel like Chris has always believed in himself. When we were growing up, Chris was always the best in every age group and in everything he done he was always the one that stood out, so he had no worries about going abroad and showing what he can do because that's what he's always done. When he went out there we had full belief in him to pull it off and it hasn't happened yet, but I still believe that he can do it. It's brave but sometimes you have to take those chances in football.
on whether Chris leaving the country helped his own development…
Yeah, obviously people would always say I was in his shadow, but that's what people say. I feel like I've always had my own identity and running through the ranks I was always able to show what I can do up to a small point in my career and I had a bit of a dip, but I feel like I've always shown what I can do at Hale End. That's peoples opinions and they're always going to say one thing or another, but I feel like it has helped me because it has helped me to come out and prove people wrong. That's what I love doing really. It's helped me in that way but I've always felt that I can produce on my own two feet.
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