Theo Walcott

[kris90210]

surprised by how good walcotts stats are. but there have been many games were arsenal have put lower teams to the sword in a big way, often scoring five or more. this will inflate his stats. i know those goals still need to be scored but they often come against teams who have already given up...
the same could be said for his assists. he has been putting the ball into decent strikers. how would his stats look if he was continually crossing into our empty box, with suarez pissing a large percentage of them away

You could level similar claims against any player. Stats are only ever going to give an indication of how a player is performing. Saying that, there is a fair bit to suggest that Walcott would fit in here:

* He's shown that he is capable of developing his game - he has improved a lot since he burst on to the scene.

* He plays for a top 4 club so is familiar with the pressure that brings

* He plays in a passing system, so he should be technical enough to fit in to what Rodgers wants.

* He is English, so would have no problems settling in to the premiership and to the way of life in Liverpool.

Add all those things to his positive stats and you get a player we should definitely be after. He's still only 24 (with loads of experience already), counts as homegrown, would bring pace, goals and assits. He can also play wide or up front (question marks over that position though obviously), which would give us options. He should be our top target for January in my opinion.

[danperkins]

Not a cat in hell's chance of signing Walcott, burn the thread. He'll have an offer from City and he'll go there or Arsenal will come to a compromise and he'll stay there

[danperkins]

You could level similar claims against any player. Stats are only ever going to give an indication of how a player is performing. Saying that, there is a fair bit to suggest that Walcott would fit in here:

* He's shown that he is capable of developing his game - he has improved a lot since he burst on to the scene.

* He plays for a top 4 club so is familiar with the pressure that brings

* He plays in a passing system, so he should be technical enough to fit in to what Rodgers wants.

* He is English, so would have no problems settling in to the premiership and to the way of life in Liverpool.

Add all those things to his positive stats and you get a player we should definitely be after. He's still only 24 (with loads of experience already), counts as homegrown, would bring pace, goals and assits. He can also play wide or up front (question marks over that position though obviously), which would give us options. He should be our top target for January in my opinion.

Great post and would love to get him but IMO he'll stay at Arsenal or go elsewhere.

[JohnDoe]

He either stays with Arsenal or comes to us. I can't see City, United or Chelsea being interested.

[Cormack74]

I think we will have to pay goof money for Walcott, near Bosman or not. Wenger has the money and backing to let him go if the deal is not to his liking and/or he can't get the right replacement in January.

Sadly I think this is about right.

[Lee]

It's more impressive when you look at his development. His end produc was poor in his first few seasons at Arsenal, but in the past couple of seasons he's got into double figures for assists and goals - and that's from a wide position, when he's not been playing regularly. His stats are superb.

He'd be pretty perfect for us right now.

****, imagine FSG pulled the stops out and we bought Llorente, Walcott and Holtby. All on bosmans in the summer, so could all be available at reasonable prices this january. 10 million for Walcott, say 15 for Llorente and 8 for Holtby - which would make it £33 mil (at the very most). Maybe FSG could be persuaded to give Rodgers next summers budget early!

That'd be ****ing amazing.

Actually, that'd probably give us a squad to compete for the League.

I think we'll get Walcott.

I doubt we'd get Llorente though sadly and I have no idea with Holtby. But we've got to go for these better players, we've got to be seen that we're going to compete again. It's harder to attract the better names with no CL football but it's not impossible.

[Red_Polo]

Sadly I think this is about right.

Just have to hope we're the only ones with goof money, I guess.

[Norbs]

Had to be done, sorry

[saj]

Not many Arsenal supporters are going to be annoyed when Walcott leaves - they don't seem to rate him.

[malg]

10 million war chest, ye that will help.

[Mostar]

I'll be happy with just Walcott.

A front three of Suarez/Sterling/Walcott would be electric. I don't think there is any justification in spending a significant sum of money on a centre forward when that role is clearly Suarez'. In addition, the more I watch us play, the more I think that Walcott can in fact play as the front man in the system we have in place should the need arise.

Walcott would be a good addition but we would still not address our main problem.

We need a natural goalscorer and that cannot wait.

I think if Walcott worked out he would be well worth it. Creates and scores and has pace - all of which would be very useful on their own to us. He's the right age to. I agree though that the money asked makes it far from a no brainer.

Few problems with signing Walcott:

- He seems to be in high demand (e.g. City, Chelsea and a bunch of Italian clubs seem to be interested) so his price tag will be still very high regardless of short term length left on his existing contract.

- He will want very high wages as he is entering into the age group where he'll go for money rich type of contract.

- He wants to play as a striker which is the point of friction with Arsenal. I'm not sure that's his best position and I see him more in his role on the right and that's where I think he would of good value to us.

- He also seems to had his fair share on injuries and that could continue

[JohnDoe]

Where will that natural goalscorer play?

[yamiedo]

Sorry mate I must be going blind. Didn't see that in your post about 'any' signing being a risk. I assume you just want us to spend less and be clever thus minimising our risk.

Fair enough, but if you sign proven players at the high end bracket in terms of cost (like Suarez for example), then the risk is reduced. IMO.

This was in my post earlier if you look again you'll see "As its been said there is however, a risk in any signing but 3m odd represents a gamble worth taking. 25m after all our troubles in the market isn't imo." but yes I do want us to spend less. I agree the risk is reduced signing quality players but then I think of Keane, Aquilani, Cole, Carroll etc etc. All added unneccessary pressure, all bought for huge amounts and were a massive drain on our resources in the end. That's why I'd opt for finding wee gems for cheap from having a good scouting network. I see what your saying though and while I'd disagree with the policy, if somebody like Llorente or Lewandoski came in, I'd be 100% behind it because of their pedigree.

[yamiedo]

I think this is all brinksmanship over a new contract, and he'll end up staying at Arsenal.

I think so too.

[Tee]

This was in my post earlier if you look again you'll see "As its been said there is however, a risk in any signing but 3m odd represents a gamble worth taking. 25m after all our troubles in the market isn't imo." but yes I do want us to spend less. I agree the risk is reduced signing quality players but then I think of Keane, Aquilani, Cole, Carroll etc etc. All added unneccessary pressure, all bought for huge amounts and were a massive drain on our resources in the end. That's why I'd opt for finding wee gems for cheap from having a good scouting network. I see what your saying though and while I'd disagree with the policy, if somebody like Llorente or Lewandoski came in, I'd be 100% behind it because of their pedigree.