Arsenal’s Theo Walcott is a man in demand with Everton, Newcastle United, West Ham and Southampton all fighting for the England international.
Theo Walcott might be struggling to get a game for Arsenal right now, but there are plenty of clubs in the Premier League who would be more than happy to field the jet-heeled 28-year-old in their attack.
According to The Express, Walcott, who has made just five substitute appearances in the Premier League for Arsenal this season, could end his 12-year association with the Gunners this month. Former club Southampton are keen on a loan deal while West Ham United, Everton and Newcastle United are all in the race.
Links with Everton make perfect sense given that Walcott adds many attributes Sam Allardyce’s side have lacked in recent months. The £120,000-a-week forward still boasts that famous turn of pace and would offer a much needed goal-threat from out wide.
But if Newcastle get their man, and pull off perhaps the most eye-catching signing of the Rafa Benitez era, it would be interesting to learn what their plans would be for a player whose best position remains the subject of debate even after a decade playing at the top level.
After years of clamouring for a place in the centre of the attack, Walcott seems to accept these days that he is more of a winger than a striker after all. But the prospect of the England international leading the line for Benitez’s counter-attacking side will have mouths watering on Tyneside.
Walcott, for all his faults, is a decent finisher who scored 19 times in 37 games for Arsenal last season, including ten in 28 in the Premier League. There is little doubt that he would offer more of a threat in the final third than Dwight Gayle or Joselu.
But would Benitez do what Wenger never really did and turn Walcott into a prolific Premier League striker?
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