Most transfer rumours are complete guff, but this one seems to tick boxes…
Theo Walcott is reportedly stalling on extending his Arsenal contract, with the 26-year-old England international keen on receiving a £50k wage hike on his current £90k terms…
Having summarised the details of the transfer rumour – we reckon it ticks enough boxes that it could have an ounce of truth in it.
And here’s five reasons why.
1) Theo Walcott’s contract expires in 15 months, and if doesn’t sign a new one, Arsenal could be forced to sell this summer…
For better or for worse, this is the modern reality of football… Arsenal know that if their valuable winger gets to the summer with a year on his contract, he’ll become significantly less valuable. And by Christmas – he’ll be worthless, with teams able to freely approach him on a Bosman free transfer. To avoid this, Arsenal could sell for a sizeable, but not ridiculous fee – much like they did with Robin van Persie in 2012. What’s more – they’re unlikely to want to offer a player who currently can’t get in the side a huge wage increase. Especially considering Walcott’s injury record. (Whether this means we should avoid him is another question entirely…)
2) As a result, his transfer fee wouldn’t be ludicrous – and with Steven Gerrard departing, we have room to pay big wages…
So hypothetically, with a year remaining on his contract by the summer – a sub-£30m transfer fee for Walcott would be realistic. Which for a 26-year-old in this day and age is hardly extortionate. With Steven Gerrard on his way to LA Galaxy, our highest paid player is leaving – and we’ll have a significant chunk of wages freed up to spend on new stars.
3) Walcott fits Brendan Rodgers’ and FSG’s transfer policy to the absolute tee…
Walcott is English. (Tick.) He’s rapid. (Tick.) He’s still only 26 and has sell-on value. (Tick.) He can play in any number of attacking positions. (Tick.) As they go – Walcott fits the blueprint of a modern day Liverpool signing about as well as anyone.
4) Walcott is a Liverpool fan, and would jump at the chance to play for a side where he could be used as a centre-forward…
Check out this from 2006…
“I was a Liverpool fan simply because my dad followed them. Unfortunately I wasn’t born when the team had their golden era, but I enjoyed watching the likes of Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman when I was growing up. When Liverpool won the Champions League last year, I went mad. I was shouting so loud I think I woke up the entire village where I live!”
So he supports Liverpool. Plus, he’s always, always wanted to be known as an out and out centre-forward. (Granted, this is two reasons really – but we’re fusing them into one.) Wenger doesn’t trust him as a striker, preferring Olivier Giroud, but we’ve been using a smaller, faster central forward for most of this season in Raheem Sterling in our 3-4-3 formation… Walcott is a superior finisher to Sterling, so could seemingly do the job in the middle of our front-three excellently – in combination/rotation with Daniel Sturridge – who has proven to be our only current top notch natural centre-forward. Not only do we badly need a player in this position, but Walcott’s attributes suit the ‘modern Liverpool striker,’ too.
5) Raheem Sterling is continuing to stall on a new deal – and the club must surely be making contingency plans by now…
This is our least favourite reason by a mile. We’d much rather Sterling renewed his deal and stayed with us for life, but the 20-year-old still hasn’t – and rumours of mammoth potential transfers away have been mounting. If the unthinkable does happen and Sterling leaves at some point – there’d be no better like for like replacement than Walcott – who is one of the few players in world football who can match our youngster for pace and dynamism.
