Theo Walcott’s Arsenal future was cast into further doubt this week after rumours of a potential bust-up with manager Arsene Wenger emerged in the British press. The 26-year-old is yet to agree a new contract with the Gunners, and has recently attracted interest from Liverpool.
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These rumours were quickly denied by the player, who described reports regarding his supposed contract demands as ‘complete nonsense’.
However, his continued insistence that he has yet to open contract talks with the club, comes in stark contrast to comments made by the Gunners, with Wenger revealing that Walcott “is very quick on the pitch, but off the pitch not always”.
With Walcott’s future continuing to dominate discussion among many Arsenal fans, we’re prepared to question why a player causing so many distractions at such a crucial time in the season should not always be on the way out the door!
In the list below, we count down five reasons why Walcott would do well to let Walcott leave the club in the summer…
Failure to deliver
It’s almost a decade since Arsenal signed a 17-year-old Theo Walcott from Southampton. The summer of 2006 also saw Walcott win the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year Award and earn a shock call-up to England’s World Cup squad. The world was seemingly at his feet. However, we’re still seemingly awaiting the moment that Walcott truly lives up to all that potential. His tally of 72 goals in 294 games is decent – he got 21 in the 2012-13 season – but somehow it’s hard not to feel a sense of anti-climax as the player’s career reaches its peak.
Injury problems
Walcott has featured in just 21 Premier League games since the start of last season, while he’s only twice played in more than 30 of his team’s league games. He’s been unfortunate – he can’t be blamed for the 13 month injury lay-off that followed these scenes (pictured) against Tottenham Hotspur last term, but it’s hard to believe that a player that relies on his pace and agility will not come unstuck again as his body continues to age. Players of Walcott’s style often burst onto the scene, before fading before their time. Walcott will have to work hard to prove otherwise.
Lots of similar players
Arsenal are blessed with a whole host of attacking midfield options. Mesut Ozil, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Aaron Ramsey, Alexis Sanchez, Danny Welbeck, and more are lining up to play in and around central striker Olivier Giroud. All those players offer something different, but it’s easy to see why Walcott can get lost, and why he often finds himself on the substitutes bench. Perhaps it would be better for all concerned if Walcott went somewhere that he would be better appreciated, and used on a more regular basis.
Not worth the money (wages, save, other targets)
For a player that is currently only on the fringes of the Arsenal side, there’s little argument that suggests Walcott deserves a wage packet anywhere close to the £100,000-per-week mark that he is already earning, or the £100k plus he is said to be demanding. For a player that isn’t featuring and contributing on a regular basis to be one of the club’s top earners is not good for anyone. The rest of the squad will begin to question it, and new signings will expect to match it. Let him go, that problem is solved, and the budget is freed to sign another good player.
A constant distraction
Back in 2013, Walcott again left it until the final six months of his deal to pen his extension. This kind of approach is common among Premier League players – wait until the last minute, drag it out for as long as possible, make them desperate, and get the best possible deal as a result. With Arsenal pushing to finish as high as possible in the Premier League, and aiming to retain the FA Cup, they don’t need this kind of distraction. They’d do well to do what Liverpool and Raheem Sterling have done – leave it until the summer, and go from there.
