Walcott

Ryo might surprise us. He was decent with Bolton and a few games with the 1st team might do him the world of good.

I wonder why Wenger isn't rushing off his feet to sign up Theo though. Anything to do with Wenger shifted his tactics for next season?

Not to Holland,, we need PL experience ...he should loaned to somewhere like Swansea, Norwich even Wigan would do.

I have never criticized Theo because I understand what he brings to the team. Its not only his direct threat but how the opposition has to change to defend him that makes a lot space for others in our team to exploit.

He had a breakout season last year and in fact only underperformed when Ramsey was playing (as all our attackers did).

I can imagine he scores 15+ goals next season and creates 10+. That would make him the most all round player in the premier league. Ahead of the so called Nanis, Matas, Bales etc. Imagine his worth especially because he is English.

Allowing him to leave will be a worse mistake than Ashley Cole. And that one has been an utter disaster because it will end Arsene Wenger at Arsenal. Arsene's only so called defense of his reign is a 'self sufficient' prudent strategy that depends on developing youngsters. So how many youngsters has he developed in the last 5 years? Wilshere will be almost guaranteed to leave after that.

Arsenal can look forward to being next Aston Villa.

I agree with you in the main Kam, but in fairness to people changing their tune over Walcott, it's probably more to do with the (probable) cumulative loss of both him and van Persie in the same window, as anything.

Also for my money Miyaichi isn't ready for a place in the first team squad yet, so of Walcott goes he'll need replacing. Which again raises a lot of anxiety in people, as there is never an assurance exiting players are replaced with ones of similar quality.

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This is what I would have contributed to this topic too. Lexy is too quick

I still say (& no this is not a dig) Wenger has slightly ruined Walcott by persisting with him on the wing. I genuinely believe, if Wenger had used his special powers (that we have seen so many times with other players) & coached him in the right way, in his rightfully position (striker), i believe he could be one of the most prolific strikers in our league.

However, even if he was now played centrally, he would need to go back 5/6 years (??) to regain the instinct he once had.

Could it happen at Arsenal or another club? Maybe we'll never know.

Walcott is nothing special and I gave him a lot of stick last season but there are 3 reasons why I would hate to see him go.

1) Pace - Say all you want about him, for all his negatives, he can turn ANY game with his pace. It is a weapon, the problem is it is his only genuine weapon and it doesn't always work for him, when that happens he is more often than not useless.

2) He is definitely the sort of player that would come back to the Emirates and rip us to shreds. If we played Barca next season at the Emirates, I would be less worried about what Cesc would do to us than I would be if say Walcott came back with Liverpool.

3) With RVP almost certain to leave, we can't afford to lose another forward, especially one that has provided the most assists for us in open play and our 2nd top scorer at the club. Statistics aside, it would ruin the whole balance of the team, which for most of last season had a front 3 of Gervinho/RVP/Walcott. It is going to be extremely difficult for the new front 3 to form a new understanding from the get go if 2 of them leave (and the 3rd is hardly an established member of the team either).

I could live with Walcott going if RVP stated but as that doesn't look likely, we will have to keep him at all costs. Just look how much we struggled to control midfields at the start of last season with Wilshere, Nasri and Cesc all out of the team. It's not easy to form relationships from the start, players need to be eased in and out of the team. If Walcott and RVP both go we will be throwing Giroud and Podolski in the deep end and hoping for the best.

I could live with Walcott going if RVP stated but as that doesn't look likely, we will have to keep him at all costs. Just look how much we struggled to control midfields at the start of last season with Wilshere, Nasri and Cesc all out of the team. It's not easy to form relationships from the start, players need to be eased in and out of the team. If Walcott and RVP both go we will be throwing Giroud and Podolski in the deep end and hoping for the best.

Good point, Batmanu. I think too we have to keep Walcott. Stats saying that Walcott gave some good assists for VP. Walcott combined with Giroud could also be a good partnership.

good article Kam

i really don't agree with this, its nonsense. both giroud and podolski are coming or in their peak of their careers both being over 25. both are meant to have international quality, podolski proven. we also have the OX and gervhino, so if walcott is demanding over 80k a week i think he should just sod off at a good price.