Friday, March 29, 2024

Wenger on Walcott’s future amid Southampton links

Arsene Wenger says that he wants Theo Walcott to remain at Arsenal despite keen interest from his former club Southampton.

The 29 year old has been very much on the fringes of the team this season, and despite scoring 19 goals in the last campaign has yet to start a Premier League game this time around.

It’s thought that the Saints are ready to do a deal and that Walcott is open to the move, but the manager says his desire is to keep the player.

“I want him to stay,” he said at his press conference this morning.

“I heard about that [Southampton], but personally I want him to stay.”

Of course he’s said that about plenty of players before selling them before, so let’s wait and see what happens.

Wenger also dismissed rumours linking us with a January move for Borussia Dortmund forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, saying, “That is not a possibility.”

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Jay+Song

Classic Wenger I am sure Walcott and Aubameyang deal is close

Runcorn Gooner

Wednesday summed TW14 up perfectly. Ran on as Sub and the first action saw him offside. He has always been about pace but no real football brain.

Reality check

How do you define a ‘football brain’?

Faisal Narrage

Not a fan of Theo at all, and I don’t like how Wenger’s favouritism over the years where he gave him far more opportunities than other possibly more viable options (Vela, Campbell, Perez, etc.) and in many ways, Theo comes to stand for everything wrong with modern Arsenal (limited player given far more chances than he would’ve in another other top team, because of Wenger’s favouritism). Saying that…. I think we need him for the remainder of the season. We need more offensive penetration and finishing/off-the-ball running, and Theo, along with Ramsey, is probably the only other player that provides… Read more »

Heavenly Chapecoense

Wenger favours Theo but he is always on the bench this year and many many times before. I don’t understand.

Faisal Narrage

I’m not sure if you’re aware how times work, but here’s the amazing thing about time…it changes.

So what used to be, suddenly, can’t be anymore. Like Theo being a certified starter back in the day, and has now fallen out of favour this season.

It’s quite the remarkable thing.

caligunner

I’m not a huge Theo fan. I think he’s a good guy but not good enough for Arsenal IMHO. Saying that lol Get off the Perez and Campbell thing. They both suck, sorry for saying that way. Campbell has done nothing to deserve more opportunities over Theo. I understand its hard to go on loan and truly establish yourself but he has done nothing on his various loans. Besides a small run of matches where he looked good he hasn’t proven anything. I hate to admit it but last season during LP initial run Theo was in great form. There… Read more »

Araj

Why does it have to be Theo or no Theo?
Why can’t it be Theo or someone else?
If Wenger sells him (and I truly hope he does) then Arsenal would have lost 3 right wingers and one right sides forward option in two seasons (the others being Perez, Gnabry and Ox), it would be only reasonable to assume that at least one player would be brought in to replace them.

Reality check

Out of the players you mentioned, how many of them have scored and assisted more than Theo, and mostly in half a season.. Wenger loves him because he can bench him whenever he likes, for the structure and style of the team and not a single strop from this gent of a guy. He doesn’t suit our so called ‘style of play’ but he is far from useless. Theo drags his contract negotiations to make his point which is an hounerable thing to do unlike some others who throw tantrums on and off the field. We weren’t probably made for… Read more »

Arun

Sarcasm written in a lengthy style?
Or is it Theo himself in disguise reading arseblog and responding to comments.

I will assume the latter, sounds more fun!

Lewdoo92

Walcott will happily sit on the bench, bring good PR, never push to play and not kick up a fuss. Of course Wenger is happy for him to stay

Who to, who to, Who to be

Bring good PR? Im not sure i agree, i think he is one of the first players that stand out as making our squad depth a bit of a laughing stock. Walcott is a joke withour rivals fans…

David Hillier\'s luggage

Yeah, but he’s not getting arrested for beating up his girlfriend, having sex with underage girls, making racist comments or failing drugs tests like some bench warmers at other clubs…

Heavenly Chapecoense

Scoring 19 goals last year and an average of around 10 goals per year with all those injuries isn’t bad to me. His first three years he had problems with his shoulders then knees. How many wingers score more than 100 goals for Arsenal ?

IamaGoober

The only reason he’s scored so many goals is due to the fact he’s been here for 13 seasons. Theo averages 5 goals a season in the Premier League. He’s only scored 65 goals in nearly 270 appearances which isn’t impressive at all. Sanchez has reached the same amount of goals in 3 seasons. Hazard has done the same in 5 seasons. Sterling is just shy of those numbers. Aaron Ramsey has scored nearly 32 goals from central midfield in the Premier League in 10 seasons. And he lost practically 3 years of his career to having a broken leg.… Read more »

Riku

5 goals a season for a season for a winger is still fucking good , like Ryan Higgs averaged6 a season and kanchelskis 7.

CLOCKENdRIDER

12 years for 100 goals for a forward – sure he could stay if he was on a low salary. But he’s not.

ronaldo

yeah, and how many did he miss, if he was any good he would have scored at least twice as many as he did, he is crap and no mistake

A Different George

I think people ought to read Tim Stillman’s post today. Very insightful about how important Walcott can be to Alexis, Lacazette, and especially Bellerin. The frustration, as Tim says, is that Theo has the same strengths and the same weaknesses as ever.

I think some of the comments reflect that frustration, not what actually happens. To rant about Theo going offside is ridiculous–Luis Suarez is often offside, Diego Costa, Higuain –and Aubameyang. (And Lacazette, by the way.)

Lingards\' Milly Rock

The same article could be written about a simply well rounded footballer e.g Mahrez/Zaha. (Hate to keep flogging this horse) He has had a decade at our club and often played in creative and free flowing teams. His output and the returns we have received show Walcott is simply average. Iamagoober has broken down his goal stats, and it is such a shame that people are unwilling to see the limitations of many of our players. Look at what Jesse Lingard is currently doing for United…the variety of goals, and all round play. Imagine what Marcus Rashford could achieve at… Read more »

COYG

John C, why is your ego so fragile that you are influenced by what rival fans say? Grow a pair.

Pedant

A big (or decent) money offer would be tempting for a 29 year old who isn’t playing much and whose best days are likely to be behind him.

SB Still

I hope we are busy lining up a good replacement who can play on the wings.

RAy

If Walcott wants a chance to go to the World Cup he needs regular time on the pitch in league games. He is not getting this at Arsenal so a move to Southampton where he will play would be good for him. It’s not a backwards step but a step in the right direction

Brahmalls_Neck

I don’t think Feo bothers about going to the world cup

Onenil

Yes Theo should go to S’hampton to get a game.
I dont believe he has any chance of going to the world cup. He has some value as an occasional goal scorer, but he contributes nothing else to the team. He seems to able to go through whole games without touching the ball.

Alphie

Clearly Walcott suits arsenal on counter attacking football and in 442/433/4231 formations. I’d prefer he leaves as he’s not challenging the first Xi or suited to the new tactical changes at the club and wish him well at that. He’s a good player who lacks versatility which isn’t his fault as a manager should know how to use a player with the skill set available. His slot could bring in a replacement or open doors for prospects like Nelson. Welbeck is also falling into that category as Walcott but is a more versatile and a excellent team player for counter… Read more »

santori

Hit the nail on the head “Good player who lacks versatility”

Completely agree with Welbeck too.

The thing is as much as Theo ‘could’ help us with being on right wing to balance out Alexis and double up for Bellerin…we could/should have better with a more nuanced player like Mahrez.

CLOCKENdRIDER

Theo Walcott – the world’s longest serving YTS trainee. If he can’t play by now he can’t play. Off him, Arsene.

twisted cuntloks

19 goals last season and can’t get a game when our top goalscorer has about 7 goals . He’s a good finisher so should really go on loan at least to get his world cup place. Also think he is being treated rather harshly…

Sir Henry Norris\'s Brown Envelope

I’m sure that Walcott will blossom into a great player under the right manager. Our team is full if great individuals who are not performing to their full potential.
Wenger be gone!

Arse-Head

I’ll bet you a tenner he doesn’t

santori

He’s at the end of his career almost and his main asset ‘pace’ will only start to wane.

Joseph Furey

What’s the point of paying optimistically inflated wages for a not-quite-yesterday’s man. I’ll be sorry to see him go, because he’s been part of the furniture for so long, but coffee tables don’t win matches

PHIL CHILDS

Good call.

David Hillier\'s luggage

He’s not really set up for our style of play and probably needs to move to a club with an heavy reliance on counter attacking. It’s a shame as he’s still one of our best finishers.

Also, as an aside, I wish fans wouldn’t jeer him when he comes on as sub or after about about 5 mins if he starts. He’ll probably play on Sunday and against Chelsea in the league cup, let’s support our players

Taylor

Personally i am fan of Theo. I understand why he frustrates people, but he is a reliable goalscorer, and gets far too much abuse in my opinion. Maybe he never became the player we all hoped he would be, but he has gone on to score over 100 goals for the club. The issue now is Wenger seems to have lost faith in Theo, and he’s only played around 50 minutes of league football this season. So if he’s not going to play him, why not sell, and give Nelson a chance?

santori

The problem is we have way too many ‘predictable’ players in this squad.

We need to be more inventive.

Walcott is amongst the ‘little Britain’ experiment which hasn’t reaped entire dividends and frankly Wenger has gone a little overboard with.

We need more inventive players particularly on right flank.

Fatgooner

Walcott should go – but not until the summer.

We are still in 4 competitions and, if we keep progressing, we will need to rotate the squad. That’s why we must keep this winger/striker/whatever until the end of this campaign.

Theo sums up everything that’s wrong about the club at the moment: he’s a mediocrity who always promised much but never delivered at the end of the day. Just like the post-2006 Wenger, he was never quite good enough.

Hopefully, come the start of next season, they’ll both be gone.

Yeo K C

Walcott is badly advised by his agent. He was one of the best right wing, but tried to force his way into central striker position. Wenger gave in to his demand and Arsenal suffered as a result of that decision. I love walcott, but I think he has been selfish.

glory hunter

Theo aint 29 until march, until then he is 28

CLOCKENdRIDER

Theo is not the invisible man. Just a passable imitation.

chrispy

How to piss off the fans in a couple of sentences. Cheers Arsene.

PHIL CHILDS

Theo is Arsenal’s modern-day Charlie Nicholas. Full of unfulfilled promise. I shall be sorry to see Theo go. Like Charlie, he clearly loves Arsenal but also, like Charlie, it’s never quite worked out for him despite scoring some important goals, including the Cup Final of 2015. If he leaves, I for one will wish him well. He’ll always be a Gooner at heart.

ronaldo

sell him NOW while we can still get something for him

santori

I think the more important issue is there are players that we can get now who are willing to move for the right price. Come the summer, the market may get heated even more, particularly with the world cup which will also delay proceedings and again risk a poor start on us if we are again waiting for the market to ‘move’. Buy a Draxler or Mahrez now regardless of Alexis or Ozil contracts IMO. Then if we have a bite for Theo grab it to make up what we can for price on new player but at least we… Read more »

santori

I said it before we can do with better invention on the right flank with a Mahrez, particularly if we should revert to a 4 across the back. That said, Walcott is still an asset that we can use under certain circumstance to our benefit. Problem with Theo is he can be lethal but more often than not he tends not to be possess of craft and guile for someone of his age. He’s got better but is still lacking in nuance to his game. Personally I feel we should make a move for a player like Mahrez now before… Read more »

George

Time to turn the page on Theo.

I guess now is as good a time as any, if there’s genuine interest.

Walenaija

Fans give excuse for Lacazette not scoring. ‘ We are not playing to his strength.’ Lacazete and Walcott are similar. Infact, Walcott can run behind defense more than Lacazete and is much more good in positioning. So why can we not say we have not been playing to the strength of Walcott. Goals win you 3 points. Welbec can only give you hard work when we actually need goals. But the manager rated players that can’t score goals over him and the fans hated this loyal arsenal player because he is Walcott. When he was in the form of his… Read more »

ClockEndRider

Walcott has had 12 years. Count em. And he still, consistently is the least impressive player on show. Enough already. It’s not personal. It’s purely business.

Riku

Do you think wenger would invest the 40 million need to up grade on theo in jan transfer window , when other teams font want yo sell in world cup year.
Keep him definitely til end of season and on.

Riku

I agree with this
Bellerin mustafi holding mn
———— jack Xhaka sanchez

Walcott ozil
———————-Alex.l.

Charmin

I really dislike AW.

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