John Stammers in the Mirror is reporting that Theo Walcott has agreed a new contract at Arsenal and that the Gunners will fficially confirm the new contract in the next two weeks, certainly before the start of the Premier League season when they play West Ham at home.
The 26-year-old England international was set to enter the last year of his current deal, but after a summer of talks between the player and his representatives, negotiations ended successfully.
The deal will keep Walcott at the Emirates until 2019 and put his salary in the £100,000 a week bracket and make him one of the club’s highest earners.
Walcott missed a significant part of last season after injuring his knee against Tottenham in the FA Cup in January 2014. While he returned in January it took almost until the end of the season before we saw his pace or goalscoring touch return.
After a full preseason it is clear that Walcott is back 100% fit and Arsenal have no problems signing him to a new long-term deal.
Arsenal go into next Sunday’s Community Shield against Chelsea on the back of successive pre-season victories, securing a 1-0 win in the Emirates Cup against Wolfsburg having eased past Lyon 6-0 on Saturday. Walcott scored the only goal of the game against the Bundesliga runners-up, finishing past Diego Benaglio five minutes into the second half following excellent work from the French youngster Jeff Reine-Adelaide.
“Another goal for Theo and I’m not surprised by that because I played him through the middle,” said Wenger. “I’ve always said he’s a goalscorer because he has the movement, he has the timing of the finishing, the speed; he has an eye for taking his chances at the right moment. When he gets in these positions he can finish well. Yesterday when he came on he nearly scored, today he scored. That shows he will score goals.
“He has his own way. He’s not what you would call the aggressive striker, he’s the mobile striker. The striker who lives from the speed and quality of his movement, but he turns up in the right space in the box. He understands well, he anticipates quickly and, linked with his speed of execution, it makes him always dangerous.
“If you ask him where he loves to play, even he is not certain. Sometimes he prefers the left because when he makes a good run he can score goals as well. I think in his head he would love to play with a strong guy next to him, playing off him. But we have so many offensive players it is difficult to combine all this together.”
