keep him on the right and give him the money he wants. he scores enough goals there for him and us to be happy. plus, it seems like his delivery and ball control has dramatically improved this season. he now takes corners (well) and free kicks (not so well) occasionally, so i'm very happy with his contribution. and about him not being useful when teams sit back, he's still able to score against them and provide something else when nothing is working for us.
An update of sorts on the situation with Walcott's contract. No direct quotes though. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/nov/18/arsenal-tottenham-hotspur-premier-league
Walcott is being played on the right, but he is allowed to come into the middle frequently to spring the offside trap. For Cazorla's goal he even popped up closer to the left side. Hopefully Walcott will realise that his new role gets the best out of his abilities. Right now he is more of a strike partner to Giroud than Podolski is. I think 75k may be undervaluing his contribution. Perhaps 100k is a little too much; 85k or 90k should be agreed, but I would still have an upper limit of 100k if that is what it takes.
I heard Wenger say that he'd keep RVP even if he didn't sign. But when it comes to the crunch, the board are always going to want to sell a player who somebody will pay fifteen to twenty million for if he going to go on a free 6 months later. I don't know, call it a hunch. But something tells me this will be different from the RVP saga.
if walcott does not sign a new contract, we will try to sell him, but i doubt that he'll actually be sold. with a few years left on his contract he could fetch between 15 and 20 million, i have no doubt, however he will have 6 months left in january, so clubs will pay a maximum or 5 million or so, because they can get him for a free in the summer. unless of course there is a host of clubs after him, which i highly doubt there will be in january. really need him to sign a new contract before then.
This is different. He could be the difference between Champs League and not. Thus with him worth 5-8m in January & Champs League worth 20m+ in summer, it makes no economic sense to sell him in Jan.
Theo Walcott will not leave Arsenal in January, says Arsene Wenger http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20394509 Arsene Wenger insists Arsenal will not sell Theo Walcott in January. That means the club could face losing Walcott, 23, for nothing in the summer as the England international's contract expires at the end of the season. Walcott would be free to sign a pre-contract agreement with another club in January if a new deal is not agreed. Talks over a new contract have stalled and asked if the winger would be sold if negotiations continued into 2013, the Arsenal manager replied: "No." I think it's smart not to sell him now, even though he might go on a free. He is in good form at the moment and is contributing quite a bit to our attacking side. Not having him will make that 4th spot all the more harder, as i can't see us bringing in any re-enforcements. Personally i would offer him a new contract as i find he is finally turning that corner. His technique seems to have improved and he is also adjusting to our formation. Offer him the 100k and leave it at that.
The club have offered him a new contract, but it looks like he's holding out for a better one. I think this is crunch time for our board, Gazidis has said last week that we're entering a period where due to improved commercial deals, we can compete with the top clubs and that we can 'compete salary wise for the top talent' Well, this is a case presented right before them. Walcott has already proved his worth to this team and is getting better, time to put your money where your mouth is Ivan
I agree, he has clearly proven his worth and we've developed him to the required level to mix it up at the highest level. Letting him go would make no sense whatsoever.
There must be something going on behind the scenes for them to hang on to Theo for as long as they have done. Normally as we have seen, they get rid of one of our more important players as soon he is on his last year. I just can't see the board willing to take the risk of losing money, they must feel that Walcott is not a lost cause, yet.
I have a solution put Gazidis on minimum wage and give theo the money we save from that job done I think in the current crazy climate 90 to 100 grand is about right for theo.
I think they know how important Walcott is to the club, hence why they are keeping him. If they sell Walcott, who exactly will step up and deliver the way he is? It could well go down to his contribution to the team's goal of 4th place.
The balance will be in retaining him, but putting him on a salary that will not make the other players wan't too much when it comes time to renegotiate their contracts. We cant afford to raise everyone's salary by 40K/week, every time their contract is due to be renewed.
