Theo Walcott: Stick or Twist

Theo is stalling on a new contract. What should we do? He would fetch between 15-20 million in the open market as a young England international. And could be replaced by Hoilett on a free. Is this something we should consider?
Pros: Hoilett is a more technical player with greater upside potential
Cons: theo is a good impact player with a working chemistry with van persie

What should we do?

I'm very torn on this, I see Walcotts goal potential as a striker but as a RW he has too many bad day's because he can't do what a RW does (i.e Aaron Lennon) so ..... ?

I'll leave this one to Wenger and support what he decides tbh.

Hoilett has more potential than Walcott now?

I wouldn't like to see him go, at all.

Deadly player on his day, would be gutted if we relinquished a player of his capabilities.

We've built Theo up, ever since he arrived here back in 2006 (!!!), and now that he's had two seasons where at least his stats have been quite decent, I wouldn't want to let him go.

I'd try to offer him a new deal so that he can continue his development here, and we've a chance to get a fee for him, if he doesn't develop well.

I don't want us to lose Walcott or Song, however, this would give us the opportunity to upgrade upon the two definite starters. Both of whom should be riding the bench.

Theo is very underrated by a lot of fans on this board. He's a good, young, sometimes frustrating but established player with great natural ability and still a lot of untapped potential. He combines well with the other big players in the squad and has started bringing in good numbers the last couple of seasons, somewhat disproving this very lazy assumption that he is a poor winger. Just give him the contract he wants, ship out the real problem players in the squad and focus on bringing in the players that can turn us into credible title challengers

Where is this information coming from in regards to him stalling on a new contract?

Frustrating, lacking in many areas, fairly injury prone and out of position.

11 goals and 13 assist with no proper playmaker putting him through from midfield.

I honestly can't see the problem. He's not Messi, but he's arguably the best RW in the league.

He can be so bloody frustrating and so limited in his impact on a game, but then he is capable of producing that killer goal or assists when you least expect it. Same with Song, capable of a match winning assist but gives the ball away 20 times a game.

Do you carry a player through the crap on the off chance they produce a moment of magic? Or do do you replace them with players who are consistent through 90 minutes but lack those world class "moments"?

A goal scorer isn't consistent if he doesn't score goals. Walcott's job is to get in behind the defence and be an ever present threat. Having him up on the line basically cancels out their LB - if he roams forward, he puts the defence under immense pressure.

The problem is that your central midfield has been so lackluster defensively that Walcott's role gets a lot of the blame. Walcott shouldn't be defending, it'd be wasted energy. Rather the 2 deep CMs/DMs should be covering for the lack of wingers defending, and a Song/M'vila partnership should be able to do exactly that.

Walcott can't do ANYTHING from deep, literally. He looks as dangerous as Heskey when he gets the ball in midfield. Get him running in behind the defence and suddenly he's close to world class.

I get your point about carrying a player "through the crap". But the crap wouldn't exist if Walcott wasn't forced to do it.

In short, ideally Theo shouldn't get the ball unless it's a throughball.

I don't hate on him as much as others do, but TBH even though he has his value and is one of the few players in the team capable of making things happen I won't shred much tears if he leaves. If he starts thinking he's as big and irreplaceable as Van Persie and deserves much more wages than he's earning now then he needs to be shipped out ASAP.

If you look at the combined goals and assists from the season just gone, he's one of the most productive wide men in the league.

Theo - 8 goals, 10 assists
Nani - 8, 10
Mata - 6, 13
Bale - 10, 11
Silva - 6, 17

He's 23, most likely going to get more consistent with each season and once in his prime I think he'll be as lethal as anyone in the league. He's always going to have games leaving you grind your teeth at him but they'll get fewer and farther between.
As our second most productive player I'd hate to let him go and see him reach his potential elsewhere and continue the pattern of letting starting players leave each season. He hasn't earned the money he's supposedly asking for but I think we should do what it takes to keep him.

Where is this information coming from in regards to him stalling on a new contract?

This

Absolutely must keep for me, no one in world football has this guys pure pace and when he really starts getting consistency he's going to be a top, top forward.

I rate Walcott higher than most members on this forum even though I started the thread. He's come a long way.
My point is that if we need to raise cash to strengthen (as we have every season since the emirates was built) he is one of two options to trade in on. The other being Song. I would rather trade Walcott than Song. Here's why...
We have cover on the wings. I actually rate Gervinho higher than Walcott. I know that sounds crazy given his final ball but I think next season he will be a lot better. Chamberlain is also going to come good as soon as he gets his stamina to a point where he can bust a lung for 90 minutes. I think he will make RW his own. Then there is Hoilett available on a free who I think is too good to pass up on. I rate Sagna highly and we all saw Hoilett turn him repeatedly. Add to the fact that Podolski also can play on the wings and we are well stoked.
The 20-mil we could get for Walcott from City or Liverpool when added to the sale of dross can give Wenger room to buy M'Vila and a defender. It's not ideal but only if we have to sell before we can buy.

Would rather keep but if he wants 90/100k then he can do one.

In an ideal world, I'd demote him and Song to squad players. But that's just me.

Would rather keep but if he wants 90/100k then he can do one.

In an ideal world, I'd demote him and Song to squad players. But that's just me.

Theo, not so much, Song for sure.

Whenever I say Song should be backup for a proper DM/ B2B I get blasted for it

Even though he makes outstanding assists, he's a bit risky to have as first choice DM.

For me he is not first team material and he would be to expensive to sit on the bench. He can look better then Messi sometimes but when you have one good game out of five then you are not for the first team... We need players on the wings who will play good every week (something like Arteta from midfield), and I dont see Walcott or Gervinho there.
We can either buy creative AM ,let's say like Silva , or sell Walcott and buy creative wigner beacuse the curent system is pis* poor with no creativity and put too much pressure on RVP.

And please people stop talking about M'villa already, he would add nothing to the team, Arteta has done great job during the season covering Song's lazy as* and Jack will be here next season who is also tough boy and can do the same job

I believe there's already a thread for this discussion, http://arsenal-mania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=156112

Personally I think he's worth keeping, not only he's productive enough to warrant a starting place or at least be considered as one but he's also a full English international with a HG status which is vital for 25 man squad rule. We don't have HG players in abundance especially if you consider we're trying to offload the likes of Vela, Mannone, Denilson and Bendtner who are all considered as a HG players.

If you look at the combined goals and assists from the season just gone, he's one of the most productive wide men in the league.

Theo - 8 goals, 10 assists
Nani - 8, 10
Mata - 6, 13
Bale - 10, 11
Silva - 6, 17

Most of this assists are resault of superb finishing from RVP, not from the quality of assists. It is useless to watch statistics, we all saw how he played this season and it is waste of time trying to convince someone with stats that he should be anywhere near first team next season. He could play, Gervinho also, but season will be over again before christmas

Statistics win matches.

If you look at the combined goals and assists from the season just gone, he's one of the most productive wide men in the league.

Theo - 8 goals, 10 assists
Nani - 8, 10
Mata - 6, 13
Bale - 10, 11
Silva - 6, 17

Most of this assists are resault of superb finishing from RVP, not from the quality of assists. It is useless to watch statistics, we all saw how he played this season and it is waste of time trying to convince someone with stats that he should be anywhere near first team next season. He could play, Gervinho also, but season will be over again before christmas

What? RvP has had a number of tap-ins provided by Walcott this year. How much more can he give than a simple tap-in, without scoring the goal himself?

Statistics win matches.

Exactly this.

People say stats don't matter, yet the one thing that actually means anything is the scoreline, which is a stat.

STICK!!!

Cant really see how anyone would think otherwise. I will be a very happy man when he extends, and so should you all.

Keep him. Letting him go would be detrimental to keeping RVP as they have good chemistry. Also on his day he is unstoppable and can change a game. He is still very young and letting him go would just be pointless, give him more time considering how much wrok has been put in him

If you look at the combined goals and assists from the season just gone, he's one of the most productive wide men in the league.

Theo - 8 goals, 10 assists
Nani - 8, 10
Mata - 6, 13
Bale - 10, 11
Silva - 6, 17

Most of this assists are resault of superb finishing from RVP, not from the quality of assists. It is useless to watch statistics, we all saw how he played this season and it is waste of time trying to convince someone with stats that he should be anywhere near first team next season. He could play, Gervinho also, but season will be over again before christmas

What? RvP has had a number of tap-ins provided by Walcott this year. How much more can he give than a simple tap-in, without scoring the goal himself?

This. Most of Walcott's assist are NOT from superb finishing by RVP. If you want to make a case in that regard, use Song instead.

Walcott's crossing has improved a lot this season. Obviously he's still no Beckham, but he doesn't need to be.

Also helped that you actually started putting bodies into the box this season, instead of him having to hit RVP covered by 4-5 defenders.

Walcott can't do ANYTHING from deep, literally. He looks as dangerous as Heskey when he gets the ball in midfield. Get him running in behind the defence and suddenly he's close to world class.

I agree with a lot of what you were saying but that's just ridiculous. Even allowing for exaggeration, Walcott is a million miles from world class.

He can't dribble, isn't a great crosser and is a patchy/poor finisher - although that is one area of his game he's shown promise in. Even allowing for his electric (if somewhat overrated pace), his game is so limited he'll never be world class.

My position on walcott is simple. He will never be good enough for a team looking to win titles, he is just too limited and doesn't add enough to our game. Berbatov won the golden boot in 2011 yet he is now United's 4th choice striker. Why? Stats aren't everything. Modern football at the highest level (where we should aspire to be) doesn't accommodate for journeymen, even if they pop up with the old goal or assist.

Having said that, Walcott is not without positives. His pace terrifies defenders, forcing them to play deep and he is admittedly effective statistically (although I'd argue he's the perfect example of why stats mean nothing without context). Ideally he'd be a squad player and I do think he is good enough for that role.
Indeed at our current level (fighting/struggling for top 4) I'd argue he's good enough to start for us (and on current form I'd certainly take him over the rest of our wide-forward options). However for the reasons outlined above I wouldn't bat an eyelid if we were to sell him, especially for the £15-20m price quoted in the OP.

I want him to stay but if he decides to leave then his replacements are Miyaichi and the Ox.