Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes he has plenty in reserve if Theo Walcott leaves

At one level, that is true. Wenger does want to keep Walcott and, following the departures over the past 15 months of Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy, Robin van Persie and Alex Song, Arsenal face being without six of the 10 outfield players who generally started during the 2010-11 season. Yet, as Wenger has consistently argued, each circumstance is different and should be considered in isolation. And it is clear that the current Walcott situation has far more in common with the losses of Clichy and Song than Van Persie, Nasri and Fabregas.

Of the latter trio, Wenger was convinced by their world-class status and genuinely distraught at being forced into a situation where he must sell. With Walcott – as was the case with Clichy and Song – the position is rather more nuanced. Yes, in an ideal world, he would like him to stay. Wenger believes that Walcott has improved, especially in his team play over the past 18 months, and he would probably start the majority of Arsenal games this season. The problem, though, is that he does not regard Walcott as remotely indispensible and is certainly not willing to pay beyond his own valuation in order to keep him.

Wenger considers an offer of £75,000-a-week to be generous for a player who, while still developing, has never quite fulfilled the expectation that was perhaps unfairly placed on him when he arrived from Southampton in 2006. That deal, which was potentially worth £12million, made Walcott the most expensive 16-year-old in world football. Arsenal, though, only actually paid £9.1million and would not regard his sale now for around £12million as such a bad piece of business.

Source: telegraph

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