Theo Walcott has confirmed his agent is currently in talks with Arsenal about signing a new contract with the club. His current deal expires at the end of the coming season.
26 year old Walcott has been at the club ten years now and has shown signs of his best form recently. He says his agent is already in talks with Arsenal: “My agent has talked to the club, I enjoy playing for this club so I am just letting them crack on with things and I’ll continue playing football.
“If it happens it happens. We’ll just play the waiting game and see what happens but I’m sure it won’t be long.”
But The Guardian report that Walcott is asking for a £20,000 wage rise on his current £90,000 per week deal. Arsene Wenger may not be too keen on handing Theo another wage increase, especially because he’s been injured for a lot of the time since he last signed a new deal, and the current four year contract being proposed would take him beyond his 30th birthday.
Arsenal now have many options across midfield and Walcott is definitely not a guaranteed starter in our current team, especially when Alexis Sanchez returns and if Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain reaches his potential. If we want to win the league though, we need to be prepared to offer players who aren’t guaranteed starters high wages.
I do agree though, that Walcott doesn’t really deserve a pay rise on his current deal, and I certainly wouldn’t want him to be on much over £100,000 per week.
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Walcott also talked about his position and seems to have changed his stance on wanting to start as a centre forward regularly.
“In modern-day football the three up front tend to change around a lot.
“You see it with England and with Barcelona, so we have that sort of trust in each other knowing that everyone can do that sort of role. It’s not a problem at all.
“I like it anywhere. I enjoy playing for this club. It’s well-documented where I want to play but there’s a lot of competition in that front line.
“If I’m in a role then I have to do my best there, but it’s another option for the manager. It’s not a bad thought.
“I’ll be judged on goals – that’s what strikers want to do, to score goals.
“I haven’t set a target as yet but when you’re a striker you need to be aiming for 15 or in the 20s. That’s a good start.”