Well he’s a bit naff nowadays and nowhere near what he once was, but he’s perfectly adept, experienced cover for almost all of the forward positions. And it’s a bit of a romantic homecoming. I can get on board with that as a loan deal.
Has looked awful the last year or so, not sure he is what we need anyway in terms of style of play either.
Yeah I don't think Walcott is a good signing and he won't offer all that much. However, we are only said to be interested if Everton cover a big chunk of his wages, so he would cost us bugger all and will only be back up anyway. Pretty low risk and also provides cover up front should we need it - not exciting but makes sense to add some depth
I hope not. Surely we can do better than Walcott, I would have thought there would be plenty of better loan options out there. He’s long since past his best and okay sure I’d rather bring in Walcott than nobody, but I’d far rather bring in a younger more exciting player who we could potentially sign permanently if the loan goes well.
Maybe they don’t want Tella and Smallbone to think they’re eyeing up another young attacking player for a potential permanent deal? Walcott sitting on the bench and bringing some more experience to a relatively young set of forwards is fine by me. Rather loan in Theo for a year and then buy properly next summer once we know where Smallbone and Tella are at.
I think Walcott would take the minutes Obafemi would get so could see him being pissed off about it. I would much rather we give those 15/20 mins at end of games to Obafemi than Walcott as well, can see the argument for experience just don’t think Walcott is the player we should be after
While Walcott wouldn't be the move I'd have wanted, I don't think it's terrible, plus it's only a loan. He has experience and has something to prove after the move to Everton didn't really work out. He's 32 in March, so he's got potentially another 3 seasons at the top. He will want/need to perform with us this season to get one final move. Vital he stays fit for that to happen though, so hopefully he can adapt to our pressing style. I would have much preferred having a loan for Sessegnon (who can provide cover on the wing or at LB) or Lookman (who looks Fulham's best player already albeit not hard to do that), but Walcott isn't the end of the world and by the sounds of it is fairly low cost/risk.
When Walcott came available at the Gunners l thought it would be a good deal for us, as we were lacking up front and admittedly l thought a bit of a romantic return to us. Now realise we dodged a bullet. I do not see the value of bringing him here. Sadly, a spent-force these days.
Yeah, that’s about the measure of it. It’s a kick the can down the road loan deal and stops us panic spending money (we don’t currently have) this summer and being saddled with a player beyond one season. We do still have some depth issues. One injury to the front two and/or the two behind them and you’re very quickly moving kids onto the bench and playing the likes of Obafemi, who is only a youngster himself.
If Obafemi went on loan for game time, which the pressure and time on the pitch would be good for him in my opinion, I would be happy for Walcott to come on loan.
Depending on who comes in today, the likes of Obafemi, Gunn and Valery could well all be loaned out to Championship clubs over the next fortnight. Would make a lot of sense to me. Probably also worth trying to shift Sims on permanently during that time too. But I do think it will be the ins which dictate the outs, rather than the other way around (excluding Hoedt/Carillio/Boufal), because of the domestic window remaining open. I can't see us doing much, if any, incoming business from the EFL.
I'll be honest, I dont see why we have played Tella over Sims in recent games. Tella looks nowhere near ready, Sims is at least a championship standard player who hasn't had any chances. But I agree with all of your suggested outggoings too
