Steve Bruce makes Joe Willock selection call ahead of Newcastle United's trip to Aston Villa

Willock, a £25million arrival from Arsenal last week, is set to feature at Villa Park, though Bruce did not say whether that’d be from the start or the bench.

The 22-year-old is poised to make his second Toon debut after not being registered in time to play against West Ham for United’s Premier League opener on Sunday.

Willock, speaking to BBC Radio Newcastle earlier in the week, admitted he was desperate to be involved away to Villa.

Bruce said: "If I’m being brutally honest, I would have liked him to have had a few more minutes under his belt in terms of playing in pre-season but that hasn’t been the case.

"Thankfully with Joe, he is young and naturally fit. It’s good to have him around. He’ll be in the squad, that’s for sure.”

During his half-season loan spell last term, Willock scored eight goals in 14 appearances – including a club-record equalling seven in seven.

If Willock scores at Villa Park on Saturday. he’ll break Alan Shearer’s record of goals in consecutive matches.

Bruce was honest in his desire to bring the box-to-box midfielder back to Tyneside but knew he had to be patient.

Indeed, the 60-year-old head coach admitted he did not expect to sign the former England under-23s on a permanent basis.

"We’re delighted we’ve got him,” Bruce continued. “He was our main target all summer because of what he gave us when he came here.

"He improved us immensely with his goals from midfield. Let’s hope he can carry that on tomorrow.

"The reason I went all-in on Joe because it was pretty obvious to everybody the improvement he made to us.

"He was outstanding during his loan, we hope he can recapture that and give us something we know we haven’t had for a long time which was that legs, energy and ability to arrive in the box and score a goal.

"Let’s hope he can do that. I never thought it was going to be possible to secure him permanently but we got there in the end and I’m very, very pleased that he’s here.”

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