The Walcott dilemma

Arsenal‘s list of players leaving might have one more addition – Theo Walcott. The England international has just a year left to run on his current contract. It is same as that of Robin Van Persie. According to the reports, Walcott is demanding wages in £100,000 region and assurances over his playing time.

Chelsea are said to have had a £25m bid for Theo Walcott rejected. Well for me that sounds insane. I don’t rate Walcott as a player worth £25m and so it is hard to believe that Chelsea made this big a offer and Arsenal turned it down. The 23 year old, as said earlier wants assurances of his place in the starting line up, but now with the emergence of Alex Oxlade Chamberlain onto the international stage and arrival of Podolski and Giroud, it will be hard for Wenger to include all these players in the starting line up. Theo surely will be aware of this and so fears being a bench warmer the coming season. Now that every player has 2014 World Cup at the back of their mind, it is justified that Walcott wants maximum playing time.

The former Southampton player came on to the global stage with a bang but since then his progress was not as expected. He is often criticized for being a one dimensional player. For Arsenal, losing Walcott won’t be a huge loss, but nonetheless it will be a loss. If Walcott leaves Emirates for greener pastures elsewhere, Arsenal Football Club’s image worldwide is sure to take a beating. It would further re establish Arsenal as a selling club. This type of negative portrayal of Arsenal will repel other world class players to join them in the future.

For me, Arsenal should not sell Walcott. Although he hasn’t performed well according to many pundits, his contribution in the form of many assists and goals cannot be neglected. His performance over the season can be termed as good if not brilliant. He is still just 23 years old. He has the potential to change the course of the match as he did for England in Euros. On the other hand, if Theo doesn’t agree to sign a new contract and if there is a club offering huge money for him which in turn can be used sign another world class player who has already established himself and can bring more experience to the side then it would be better off selling him. There is no point keeping an unhappy player who will bring only negative vibes in the dressing room. The same goes for Robin Van Persie (although I still hope that he will do a rooney and stay with Arsenal).

Thankfully, Arsenal has Arsene Wenger to take this decisions. I am sure that anything he does will only benefit the club. After all “In Arsene We Trust”.