It’s time: Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas urges Theo Walcott to move, as Everton chase £20m deal

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Arsenal’s Theo Walcott is reportedly closing in on a move to Everton.

Arsenal forward Theo Walcott (L) vies with Bournemouth’s Lys Mousset

Pundit Charlie Nicholas has told Sky Sports’ The Debate that he thinks it’s time for Theo Walcott to leave Arsenal amid strong links to Everton.

Walcott, 28, famously burst onto the scene with Southampton as a teenager, and joined Arsenal back in January 2006 in a big-money deal before even turning 17.

Touted to become one of English football’s top players, Walcott hasn’t quite lived up to his billing, though he has been a regular under Arsene Wenger over the years.

With 108 goals in 395 games for Arsenal since his arrival 12 years ago, Walcott hasn’t enjoyed the success that many predicted for him, and he may now be heading out of the Emirates Stadium.

The Mirror report that Everton are hoping to sign Walcott in a £20million deal this week, with the belief that he has now played his final game for Arsenal after coming on as a substitute in the 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth on Sunday.

The Toffees are desperately looking for pace, and manager Sam Allardyce is now pressing ahead with a deal to bring the England international to Goodison Park.

Ahead of that potential move, pundit Charlie Nicholas has told Sky Sports’ The Debate that it’s time for Walcott to leave Arsenal, and he should have moved on two years ago.

Nicholas noted that he has nothing negative to say about Walcott, but he simply has to play first-team football elsewhere – though whether he can play up front rather than out wide at Everton remains to be seen.

“Come on Theo, it’s time,” said Nicholas. “I’ve got nothing bad to say about Theo – people can pick holes in his record, but they got a lot from Theo. They never got the true potential that we were all waiting on, but I think three or four years ago we realised that was never going to materialise.”

“When he wanted to be a number nine, he was never going to get the number nine shirt, he always had to play on the wing. I think for that last two or three seasons, he should have moved by then and realised, as soon as people like Sanchez, Ozil and all the other strikers started coming into the football club, his time was coming to an end.”