With Arsenal looking to offload Theo Walcott, where could the England winger be playing his football next season?
THEO WALCOTT has been at Arsenal since January 2006, making nearly 400 appearances and scoring more than 100 goals, but he could be on his way out of the Emirates.
With his contract expiring in June 2019, the Gunners are reportedly keen on avoiding another sticky situation like they have at the moment.
Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil are both well into the final year of their deals.
Arsenal are said to be willing to sell the 28-year-old while they can still command a fee for England international.
Walcott will surely not be happy with just 47 minutes of Premier League football so far this season so could be open to a move.
So if he does leave the Emirates in January, where could his next destination be? Our friends at Football Whispers have looked at four possibilities.
West Ham
There’s no doubt the Hammers are always on the lookout for big names and signing a player who’s spent most of his career in the Champions League fits that bill.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alexandre Lacazette were West Ham transfer targets when they arrived at the London Stadium in the summer of 2016, yet they failed, unsurprisingly, to land them.
Instead they brought in Simone Zaza, Ashley Fletcher and Jonathan Calleri as they appeared to prioritise numbers over quality in the hope one of them would turn out well.
This summer they appear to have returned to looking for proven Premier League players, with Marko Arnautovic, Joe Hart, Javier Hernandez and Pablo Zabaleta all arriving.
Signing Walcott would perfectly fit their policy of purchasing experienced top-flight players in England and, what’s more, he would fill a hole.
Slaven Bilic’s side are short of wingers, they only have three in their squad – Arnautovic, Michail Antonio and Andre Ayew.
And with Arnautovic prone to fits of anger resulting in suspensions and Antonio and Ayew suffering injuries over recent seasons, having another winger really wouldn’t be a bad option. Walcott fits the bill perfectly.
He also averaged more goals per 90 minutes (0.47) than any of the trio, with Ayew at 0.37, Antonio at 0.33 and Arnautovic at 0.2.
Everton
If Arsenal are selling Walcott solely to secure a large fee, they will be hoping Everton’s reported interest is true.
Majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri showed he wasn’t afraid to splash the cash this summer, with more than £140m spent on new arrivals at Goodison Park.
Despite spending that cash, it’s been a disappointing start to the season for the Toffees. They currently sit 16th, with just two wins from their opening seven Premier League games.
Everton are a team without balance. They have a lot of similar players who can play the role of a creative No.10 – Wayne Rooney, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Davy Klaassen all arrived this summer.
But they haven’t replaced Romelu Lukaku up front, while they also lack pace. Walcott could be the answer to either of those problems. He is both quick and could play the role of the forward that Sandro and Dominic Calvert-Lewin haven’t quite been able to so far this season.
While Walcott has been played wide over the years, his best goalscoring return – 21 in all competitions – was in 2012/13, when he used through the middle.
Crystal Palace
Another side thought to be interested in Walcott is Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace.
There is no real surprise they are looking to strengthen their squad after their disastrous start to the season which sees them without a goal or a point after seven games.
Palace only brought in two players on permanent deals this summer, so there is surely some money left for some much-needed squad rebuilding in January.
It would undoubtedly be a coup for a club struggling at the bottom of the Premier League to bring in a player like Walcott, someone who has Champions League experience and 47 England caps.
But despite him reportedly being a Crystal Palace transfer target, whether Walcott would want to move to Selhurst Park is another question.
Like West Ham, they would be able to use their London location to try and tempt him – the 28-year-old may not fancy relocating his family and he could probably stay where he currently lives if he remains in the capital.
He would offer a goalscoring threat, but when they already have wingers who, like Walcott, can flatter to deceive in Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend. He may not be what the Eagles need right now.
Southampton
The most romantic switch for Walcott would be one back to his first club, Southampton.
Like Everton, who’ve netted four goals, and Crystal Palace who are yet to find the back of the net, Southampton are also struggling to score – they have just five in their opening seven Premier League games.
Walcott joined Saints’ youth team back in 2000, before he made his professional debut in 2005, becoming the then youngest player to play for the Southampton first-team aged 16 years and 143 days.
Even though he has since gone on to score against his first professional club, Walcott has admitted he still holds a soft spot for them.
Speaking earlier this year, he said: “Southampton will always be in my heart - I have some great memories here, they are a strong team.”
With the likes of Rooney and Fernando Torres returning to the clubs that gave them their first chances a professional footballer in recent years, maybe Walcott could do the same.
