The winger wants more than £100,000-a-week to extend his current contract
By Femi for Information Nigeria
Gone are the days when Arsenal had to fight tooth and nail to keep players. One is Theo Walcott.
Signed from Southampton as a precarious youngster, the player has remarkably become an established player since he joined the North London Club.
In the frantic last year’s protracted contract talks between Theo and Arsenal, the club had to review their own terms before the 26-year old speedster agreed to a new contract that now expires in the summer of 2016. However, it’s a different ball game this time.
Arsenal can afford to sell Theo Walcott. Albeit, the player, on social media, squashed rumors of a bust-up with Manager Arsene Wenger over contract dealings.
‘’Reports about contract demands and bust-ups with the boss are complete nonsense.’’
‘’There have been no contract talks as yet and my current focus is on doing my best for Arsenal’’ He wrote
Yet, precedent modulus operandi between Walcott’s representatives and the Club on contract talks have been strenuous with Wenger recently sharing the same view.
‘’The first contacts have been established with the embassy!’’ Arsene Wenger told a press conference on Walcott’s new contract agreement earlier this month
‘We will see how that progresses politically’’ He adds.
The arrival of former Barcelona’s talisman Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck from Manchester United has seen Theo Walcott left frustrated on the bench.
Sanchez has had an impressive start to his Arsenal career and without the Chilean’s industrious efforts, the gunners would be languishing out of the vital top four race. So it’s no surprise he has cemented a spot on the right wing.
Up comes Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Another player with the same roots as Theo back in the Southampton days, Chamberlain offers more threat in the final third with his menacing pace and trickery. And his presence sees Walcott dropped further down the pecking order.
Make no mistake Walcott is an integral part of Arsenal football club. For a club that has had frustrating previous years with no viable depth, his pace comes hand as a plan B when he is not starting.
However, if the club are refusing to increase his £90,000-a-week wages, it’s because they feel a not guaranteed first-team player is not worthy of more and Walcott must realize failure to agree on the conditions could see him sold in the summer with Liverpool and Manchester United both monitoring the situation.
According to Dailymail, Arsenal are reportedly eyeing a move for Borussia Dortmund star man Marco Reus to replace Walcott.
A lad with more attributes than Walcott most notably speed and versatility, Reus is the perfect candidate to fill Walcott’s boots should he decide to leave.
