WALCOTT - which position is best etc?

[SteveO 35]

does theo bang in the goals reguarlly enough to justify 100k though. the likes of bent imo would score more for us and be cheaper.

lets put it this way, id prefer theos 100k went towards the wage of someone on 150 k for example eho is far superior and a proper proven high class striker

You may well prefer it that we have the kind of players who are worth 150k a week but the reality is we do not and never will have in the immediate future.

The reality is that we already pay players who have acheived less than Theo yet Walcott seems to be the criminal here. Again, there is nothing wrong with asking for parity with those who have delivered even less than yourself.

Exactly and that is the other point in the argument. We had one of the finest strikers in world football last season and wouldn't pay him 150k per week so we're hardly going to give it to some newbie are we?

[mcdowell42]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/ ... ex-1496243

[supergeorgegraham]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/ ... ex-1496243

I know Gibbs played a shocking pass Vs Reading but overall he has been good this season. We do need another left back mind you. Yes getting Ox, Wishere, Gibbs and Walcott to sign new deals is one step in the right direction.

[supergeorgegraham]

Jesus there are some idiots about. Walcott is our best CF and has the pace to destroy the very best defence. Walcott has now recovered from a series of bad Injuries that hurt his progression.
Walcott now looks dangerous when he plays and his finishing and passing have improved massively.
Walcott will star in any Prem League team. Walcott deserves 100k a week as he is now signing for the 23 to 27 age group which means he will be at his highest level.
Arsenal are also getting loads of extra money from Sky next season. Other than Walcott the fantastic choice of Giroud, Gervinho, Chamakh and Arshavin make the mouth water.
If you dont want him to sign then dont ever comment about the downward direction our club is heading.

Granted the alternatives are not great but you are basing that on what exactly ? The guy hasnt played a dozen games at centre forward and you want to talk bollocks and crown him already ? If you think that he will be a star in any of the top teams in the prem league then it is you that should start watching snooker

At the end of the season if he plays CF and stays fit I will come back on here and copy and paste your words until you decide that on this occasion you left your footballing brain in the Christmas Pudding

[augie]

Jesus there are some idiots about. Walcott is our best CF and has the pace to destroy the very best defence. Walcott has now recovered from a series of bad Injuries that hurt his progression.
Walcott now looks dangerous when he plays and his finishing and passing have improved massively.
Walcott will star in any Prem League team. Walcott deserves 100k a week as he is now signing for the 23 to 27 age group which means he will be at his highest level.
Arsenal are also getting loads of extra money from Sky next season. Other than Walcott the fantastic choice of Giroud, Gervinho, Chamakh and Arshavin make the mouth water.
If you dont want him to sign then dont ever comment about the downward direction our club is heading.

Granted the alternatives are not great but you are basing that on what exactly ? The guy hasnt played a dozen games at centre forward and you want to talk bollocks and crown him already ? If you think that he will be a star in any of the top teams in the prem league then it is you that should start watching snooker

At the end of the season if he plays CF and stays fit I will come back on here and copy and paste your words until you decide that on this occasion you left your footballing brain in the Christmas Pudding

My point is that up to this moment in time Wally has not done enough to justify 100k per week wages. To date he has not shown that he is a top quality centre forward. He has not shown the intelligence or the clinical finishing required to be a top level centre forward. Now I know that you will counter those points by stating that he hasn't really been given a shot at playing centre forward and on that point we are 100% in agreement but that doesn't escape the fact that he has earned the right to be called a centre forward nor has he come closing to earning the wage he is demanding. Your arguments are based on the word if and we have handed out too many big contracts based on if in recent seasons and have been badly burnt as a result (average al, Denison,bendtner etc) - if he proves himself then pay him 120k per week but you cannot reward someone based on maybe's and in recent seasons this is a point all Gooners have been advocating so we cannot now turn around and complain when the policy is implemented on a crowd favourite

It's clear at this stage that we are split on this issue and some want to give him the 100k and some don't - I have made my points and continuing this debate is futile as it has been done to death (and is only winding me up ). At this stage we will have to wait and see but I do suspect that the pressure wenger and the club are under at the mo will actually help walnut and he will end up getting the deal he wants just to placate unhappy fans

[Its Up 4 Grabs Now]

I'd guess Walcott also generates more money for the club via his image rights than probably any other player. All well and good us saying we don't care about a player's "marketability" but it's the reality of football and the club's not usually shy about using him in their promotions more so than others. Whether that justifies another £25k per week on top of what he's already been offered might be another story, but it's part of the context at least.

[goonersid]

The sad fact is that there are at around 10 outfield players I would prefer to see leave ahead of him. It's a bit like Song's departure, it will create more playing time for the dreadful shite that are Ramsey, Gervinho and even Giroud who doesn't finish as well as Theo.

[markyp]

Forgive me if im wrong and permision to call me a bell end if so but why are people questioning Walnutt as a centre forward isnt CF HIS ACTUAL PROPER POSITION??? didnt he play there as a kid right through to joining us??if he wants to pay CF as he says its his best position then thats where he should be.its no good people on here moaning about square pegs round holes etc then saying Feo isnt a CF,he has said himself THATS HIS POSITION!! it aint rocket science

[augie]

Forgive me if im wrong and permision to call me a bell end if so but why are people questioning Walnutt as a centre forward isnt CF HIS ACTUAL PROPER POSITION??? didnt he play there as a kid right through to joining us??if he wants to pay CF as he says its his best position then thats where he should be.its no good people on here moaning about square pegs round holes etc then saying Feo isnt a CF,he has said himself THATS HIS POSITION!! it aint rocket science

Is this a piss take ? Average Al said he was a keeper but saying it didnt make it so

[franksav63]

Has this overrated wanker gone yet... ??

[hugh jardon]

Walcott will leave Arsenal and to make things worse it will be either for free at the end of the season or at best a reduced price in January due to his contract running down.

What is the point of signing any player as a 16 year old, investing in and developing him as a youngster, having patience with him during his inconsistent and inexperienced years, if we are then unwilling to pay him what he is entitled to once he has scored over 50 goals for Arsenal and approaching his best years at 23 years old?

In my opinion Walcott is worth the salary he is asking for as:

a) He is 23 and has his prime years ahead of him
b) A proven goal scorer
c) A proven creator
d) An England international
e) He will get more money than what he wants from Arsenal elsewhere
f) He is worth paying more simply to prevent one of our opponents having him!
g) A clean cut player who is a big shirt seller (but actually plays unlike Park) and great PR for the club

We have seen him improve massively over the last couple of seasons and we should now benefit from his best years as a player and goal scorer. Despite being on the receiving end of some terrible abuse from his own supporters he still indicates he would be willing to stay, which shows he wants to acheive things with this club.

However, I feel this has gone on too long for me to have any confidence that the club have any intention of paying him what he is worth.

[SteveO 35]

What is the point of signing any player as a 16 year old, investing in and developing him as a youngster, having patience with him during his inconsistent and inexperienced years, if we are then unwilling to pay him what he is entitled to once he has scored over 50 goals for Arsenal and approaching his best years at 23 years old?

Nail on the head.

I know - lets sign a kid aged 16 and clearly not ready for the PL. Lets pay 12m for him and put up with five years of performances ranked somewhere between absolute shite and mediocre. Then, when he finally shows 18m of decent form allow him to run down his contract and suffer the humiliation of letting him leave for a mid-table club like the Mickeys that will then stick him alongside Suarez, whilst we sit back watching Le Chapman and The Forehead failing to hit a cow's arse with a banjo week after week.

The sale price should be for 5m or so because we've allowed yet another player to run down his deal, so we'd have lost 7m or so on the transfer fee plus the wages for 7 years.

Yes a truly wonderful plan that.

Still, nice to see that we'll extend our feeder club role beyond Manchester and Barcelona.

Hopefully having covered ourselves in glory we can go and pay Palace £15m for Zaha and repeat the whole process all over again

[Old Rosie]

Unfortunately many here still see us as a big club abd so demand that we have the players of the ilk we saw in the not too distant past!

We have to accept that Walcott is as good as it gets right now.

Also, people are spot on regarding the investment placed in Theo. Why cut your nose off over a relatively small amount in football terms when the potenetial is obvious and we are desperate for a quality striker!

Or should we perservere with Gerry Moonhead?

[donaldo]

How many people where saying Wally was a striker a year ago when we had RVP?.No fucking one.Now he is Wrighty and Henry reborn.Its only because we have lost RVP and Wenger has bought in shit to replace him all of a sudden every man and his dog are saying Wally is a striker.By Giroud being shit it has made Gooners call for Wally to be a striker.Its as if the last 6 years of Wally never happened.Now if we had gone out and bought a top quality striker in the summer no one would be talking about Wally as a striker.Its down to Wenger buying crap

[QuartzGooner]

Bit Donaldo there is a huge difference between almost seven years of a 16 year old developing into a decent player at 23, and six years of a peak 28 year old declining into a slow 34 year old.

Walcott was 16 when he signed!
The first three seasons he could well have been in the reserves; players such as Coquelin and Jenkinson are only squad regulars from age 20/21.