Newcastle’s Joe Willock: ‘I’d like to give something back, like Marcus Rashford’

Joe Willock relishes spending free hours walking his dog along Northumberland’s seemingly endless miles of sandy beaches but, sometimes, the Newcastle midfielder’s mind transports him to a very different world. The Caribbean island of Montserrat lies more than 4,000 miles from England’s North Sea coast and a big part of Willock’s future is tied up in its volcanic landscape.

“My family have a lot of land out there and I want to build something in Montserrat to give opportunities to kids who don’t have the chance to come to Europe and play football,” said the 23-year-old. “It’s something very important to me; my family and I are already working on the plans.”

When, in 1995, the British overseas territory was devastated by a catastrophic eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano that destroyed its capital, Plymouth, huge swathes of the population fled. Most headed to the UK where Willock’s parents established a new life in London, settling in Walthamstow and building a successful clothing business, centred on a successful fashion store in Crouch End.

As Willock sits chatting on a smart black sofa at Newcastle’s suburban training ground, his left leg curled beneath him, he readily acknowledges he almost certainly would not be a key element of Eddie Howe’s high-flying team today had Charles and Sarah Willock not sacrificed that business in order to nurture their three sons’ footballing dreams.

With the eldest, Matty, joining Manchester United’s academy and Chris and Joe enrolling in Arsenal’s equivalent, their parents sold the shop and took jobs affording them sufficient free time to ferry the boys to training and matches. While Sarah became a cleaner, Charles joined Tesco; both became unenviably familiar with working night