Arsene Wenger admits that Walcott may still not sign Arsenal contract this season

Theo Walcott has still not signed a contract extension with Arsenal despite him being just one day away from being able to leave at the end of the season for nothing, but Arsene Wenger insists that he has not pressured the England international to come to an agreement immediately.

Wenger said a few years ago after Mathieu Flamini left for free that he would never let this situation happen again, but perhaps after already losing Robin Van Persie and Alex Song, he couldn’t bear to lose yet another top Arsenal player this summer.

Wenger also revealed that it was financial differences which were holding back an agreement with Walcott. Wenger said: “There was never a hard-line approach with Theo, it was always a soft-line approach, but with respect to our wage structure.

“If we don’t respect our wage structure, we will go nowhere. We always wanted him to stay, and we still want it now.”

Wenger also seems certain that the lack of agreement will not affect walcott’s commitment to the team, although he vers from being “confident” Theo will sign, to being “hopeful” and then “difficult to predict” in the space of three sentences!

“Theo is focused in training and what happens at the end of the season, happens as the end of the season.

“He’s been fantastic, showing 100% commitment. He loves the club, so maybe we can find an agreement.

“I’m confident Theo will sign. He’s 23, is English, lives 10 minutes from here, so hopefully we can reach an agreement.

“But at the moment it’s difficult to predict what we will do.

“I don’t know what will happen in January, I’m worried more about Sunday’s game with Liverpool.

“Theo’s developing very well. He’s intelligent and is a good finisher.

“Yes it would be a frustration if he left, but we’re not there yet.”

I am wondering why either side would think that an agreement will be reached during the season, when it is clear that the difference in wage expectations couldn’t be agreed in the last month. Certainly Walcott will get a better deal somewhere else next summer if he leaves as a free agent next summer…..

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Why Arsenal need to tie Walcott down to a long contract

Posted on August 25, 2012 by admin

Theo Walcott in long-term contract talks by SC

Walcott at times can be the most frustrating player on the pitch but when in full flowing mode he can sometimes be almost unstoppable. Theo over the years has had many critics, many slating his poor crossing or even his general football brain. But in the last few seasons he has started to silence those critics, even when booed by sections of the Arsenal crowd whilst losing to Spurs at home last season he reacted by putting in a sublime second half performance scoring magnificently. For this reason its good to hear that Walcott according to John Cross from the Mirror is in talks with Arsenal to sign a five year contract.

Walcott has had his doubters over the years but in the last two seasons there has been a significant improvement in his play and his ability overall. The first key improvement many Arsenal fans would have noticed is his incredible ability to make the right runs for Song, Fabregas etc. to put a ball through to him. However lets not kid ourselves, he is still far from the finished article and at times his composure can really let him down. One of the key incident being at home to QPR last year, beat the whole defence and did everything right, had so much time to just slot the ball into the net and missed the goal by about 5 yards. This is where he gets his critics from, and to be honest his biggest weakness is himself. Theo is the definition of a confidence player and when he has confidence in his own ability he can be one of the most dangerous wingers in the league. But sometimes a lack of confidence really lets him down which affects his composure.

Arsenal in recent years have lost RVP, Fabregas, Nasri and Song; leaving Walcott as one of the longest serving players for the club. Its important Arsenal do not let another star player leave and keep hold of him, a five year contract would be a real statement of intent from the Gunners board. Although inconsistent at times, Theo is only 23 and is just starting to come into his peak years which with this new contract will be spent smashing in the goals for the Arsenal. He may never silence all of his critics but if he keeps on improving then he really will be a force to be reckoned with in future years to come.

COYG! Sean. Feel free to follow me on twitter @SeanCalfe

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Theo Walcott expected to sign new Arsenal contract

Posted on August 08, 2012 by admin

Walcott’s Contract Talks Continue by AH

Theo Walcott’s current contract runs out at the end of the season, which would allow him to leave on a Bosman transfer. Both the club and Walcott himself are keen on reaching an agreement as quickly as possible, so he can continue to concentrate on his football, and know where his future lies.

One thing is for sure is that he does seem keen to stay and he is happy at Arsenal. His comments on the club, Alex Oxlade – Chamberlain and next seasons chances, suggest that he wants to stay at The Emirates.

Contract talks resumed during the Asia tour as Walcott’s representatives held meetings with the club, as both parties saw the tour as a perfect opptunity to talk, whilst they were away from rival clubs and English media. Informal discussions have been taking place over the past few months and the club is now expected to make a formal contract offer and tie up his future before the season starts on August 18th.

Walcott said recently; “The club and my agent are talking but it is a slow process and my last contract took six months to agree – but it will come.”

Walcott opted to wait until the summer to decide on his future, with the club happy to postpone contract talks that were scheduled to happen last autumn. There’s been a lack of interest so far in the transfer window , for the England international with only Liverpool and Chelsea have registering an interest in the player.

The high level of competition for places at Chelsea is likely to block any move for the forward to move across London, while a Liverpool move would represent a step down from Arsenal. However Liverpool is the club he supported as a boy and so it would be hard to turn away any decision immediately.

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Arsenal Have Serge Gnabry Sign Professional Contract

Gnabry Already Being Prepped For First Team Action

Showing signs of a real “killer”, Gnabry has just signed his first Professional contract. Although this will be a brief post, the importance of this event is something to take notice of. Arsenal.com thought it important enough to place in the limelight on their homepage.

“Pace, strength and an eye for goal saw Gnabry net six times in eight games for the Under-18s, including a sensational debut strike against Crystal Palace. And the attacking midfielder was able to replicate this fine form at reserve level, where he made six appearances and scored twice.” [arsenal.com]

Arsenal have big plans for this kid, just you wait, he’ll be showing up for the first team very soon. Arsenal are wise to have made their move before other clubs try to snatch him. Gnabry will be playing for the reserves against Dartford FC tomorrow (August 1st ) maybe some of us (who live in the area) should meander over there and watch the match? Let us know what you think.

ARSENAL FOR LIFE

by JG

Tags: Arsenal, JG, reserves, Serge Gnabry, youth
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Will Walcott renew contract with Arsenal?

Walcott in contract discussions by AH

Theo Walcott has admitted that the club are having on-going talks with his agent about a contract renewal. Like Robin Van Persie, the Englishman only has 1 year left on his contract and Walcott’s future has been a doubt up till now.

I recently said in one of my articles about Walcott, that the club wanted to open contract discussions with the player and his agent during the Asia tour. This is because the club see the Asia tour as the perfect opportunity to get away from the media.

The media influences clubs massively because media attention can make negotiations uncomfortable and pressurised, which leads to terms being offered that wouldn’t normally be done and it can weaken the deal in terms of professionalism, and sometimes even weaken the chance of signing someone.

Walcott told SkySports about the situation;
“We continue to talk and we’ll just see where it goes.”

Now to me that doesn’t sound promising and, honestly, I think there’s a money issue. It’s understood that Arsenal are only willing to offer £80,000 per week while Walcott wants £100,000. However before you all turn on him, because of his wage demands, it’s also understood that Arsenal have offered a 2 year wage increase clause in his prospective contract, based on performance related actions.

Walcott went on to say;
“Not at all, because I didn’t have a clue about any other clubs, anything (in response to a rumoured move away). I’m an honest guy. I like to get on with my job. I’ve got to work on pre-season, I don’t want any distractions.”

“Like I say, my agent and the club will continue to talk and when there’s something to know I’ll get involved. The manager has got so much faith in the young players. He’s developed them. Every single one of them that comes in seems to suit the way that Arsenal play football.”

“It’s the next step that we need to go on to now. Everybody says that we’re a young team but we’ve got a lot of experience now – Champions League quarter-finals and so on. So we just need to try and prove people wrong and show what we can actually do and find out what we’re made of,” he concluded.

That sounds slightly more promising as he is saying “we” when talking about the club next season, however for some reason I’m not really convinced by what he is saying.

Walcott is currently interesting Chelsea, Liverpool and Juventus. I’ve said this many times before, and I’ll say it again, I honestly think we would miss Walcott more than we would miss Van Persie.

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Arsenal offer Walcott improved contract

Posted on July 19, 2012 by admin

Walcott set to re-sign by AH

According to many sources, Arsenal have offered Theo Walcott a new 4 year contract with much improved terms than there £80,000 p/w offer which was made 2 weeks ago. The wage offer is set to remain at £80,000, however the club has added an improvement percentage clause.

Walcott’s new contract agreement will be subject to a certain yearly percentage increase for next 2 years. This will be determined by his performance and how his ability increases.

Fans’ opinions are divided on Theo Walcott and many have called for him to be sold, however I think that it would be a massive mistake selling him as I firmly believe that next season will be his year. Many have said he has never lived up to his potential and I agree, however he is still young and I think last season he began to show what he was capable off. Some of his performances were magnificent especially his performances against both Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and Tottenham Hotspur at The Emirates.

He may not be worth the £100,000 p/w wage he supposedly wants, but there’s no doubt that he is starting to show his worth and we certainly shouldn’t be looking to sell him.

I was very disappointed that he wasn’t offered a contract extension before the euros and I wrote an article about that a few days ago but the club must now act quickly to offer him a contract before more suitors come in to sign him. There have been reports that Arsenal will speak with Robin Van Persie, Theo Walcott and Alex Song while they are on the Asia tour as the publicity will be significantly less involved.

Chelsea, Liverpool, Juventus and Spurs (apparently) are all interested and Chelsea have even made an inquiry but Arsenal rejected their talks. Hopefully a deal for Walcott can be struck in the coming weeks, as we don’t want another player at the club with speculation driving the players down.

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Robin van Persie's decision not to renew contract gives Alisher Usmanov opportunity to attack Arsenal board

In a wide-ranging and scathing five-page letter, Usmanov accused Arsenal's board, which is led by majority shareholder Stan Kroenke, of selling the club’s best players and replacing them with cheaper alternatives. He also expressed his “deep reservations” about their policies, which he claimed were causing players to question their futures and the club’s ambitions.

The timing of the letter, less than 24 hours after Van Persie’s announcement that he would not sign a new contract, could hardly have been worse for Arsenal. The club, however, maintain that they are fully committed to a self-funding approach which, they argue, will secure both their long-term future and ultimately also offer the best chance of success.

This view is evidently not shared by Usmanov or Van Persie, who admitted publicly on Wednesday that he disagreed with Arsène Wenger and chief executive Ivan Gazidis “on many aspects” of how the club should move forward.

Wenger will now seek urgent talks with Van Persie to determine whether the situation is retrievable. Arsenal’s official stance is that they are “confident” Van Persie will see out a contract which does not expire until next year but his release of such a provocative statement, without warning, clearly makes this very difficult.

Although no club can match Manchester City’s financial firepower, it is understood that Van Persie is also attracted by interest from both Juventus and Manchester United. There is pressure to resolve the situation quickly, with Van Persie scheduled to lead Arsenal on their pre-season tour of Asia, beginning on July 21.

Arsenal have already spent £24million this summer on signing two new strikers in Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud but Wenger will meet his scouts next week to determine his other priorities. Fiorentina captain Stevan Jovetic and Poland forward Robert Lewandowski are among the players being monitored.

Usmanov, who owns just under 30 per cent of Arsenal, made it clear that he regards the debt from building the Emirates as the root cause of the club’s recent failure to win trophies and keep key players happy.

With his business partner Farhad Moshiri, he has long called for a rights issue that would release share equity to pay off a debt that peaked at £318million in 2008 but now costs the club around £14?million a year. That would require an extra financial commitment from existing shareholders, primarily Kroenke and Usmanov, although would probably also place penalty bank charges on the club for the early loan repayment.

“It is down to our manager and not the shareholders to have to deal with the club’s tight finances, carry the burden of repaying the stadium debt by selling his best players and having to continue to find cheaper replacements,” said Usmanov.

“This policy is leading to the loss of our best players, often to our main competitors, and even causes the players themselves to question their future at the club and the club’s ambitions. The situation with our captain and outstanding performer from last season, Robin van Persie, sums this up.

“Yet again we are faced with losing our true marquee player because we cannot assure him of the future direction and give confidence that we can win trophies.”

As well as Van Persie, Theo Walcott is now into the final year of his contract and is the subject of interest from both Chelsea and Paris St-Germain.

“You can try and put a good face on a bad game for as long as you want, pontificating about the merits of this model, but it will not hide the obvious fact that it just does not allow our great manager [Wenger] to fully realise his managerial talent and deliver success for the fans who are paying the highest prices in the land,” said Usmanov.

He also claimed that securing a place in the Champions League “will be the pinnacle of our ambition again next season” and warned that, in the future, “we may see this ambition lowered further”.

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