Did Arsenal make a big mistake in selling Walcott?

Theo Walcott joined Arsenal from Southampton at the tender age of 17 and came with an amazingly big reputation for such a young man, but injuries seemed to always blight his career, especially with the England team, at the wrong moments. But last season, the winger came good with 19 goals in just 37 games playing from the wing and many Arsenal fans thought he had finally reached his potential.

This season, though, Walcott was relegated to the reserves as Arsene Wenger tinkered with his formation and dispensed with classic wingers in favour of defensive-minded wing-backs, and although Theo was probably in the best form of his life he simply couldn’t get a game, so it was inevitable that he would have to leave the club if he wanted to reignite his career.

Sam Allardyce stepped in and persuaded Theo to move to Everton, and it seems to have reinvigorated the Englishman and he scored both goals in just his second game for the Toffees and Big Sam can’t believe how lucky he was to get such a fine player for just £20million. The Everton boss said: “I can’t say what Arsene [Wenger] thinks, but the opportunity to take a player with last season’s goals record and that quality [for £20m] wasn’t a big decision,”

“A lot of things have been said about Theo – he hasn’t reached his full potential and all that – but I don’t know how you could say that after last season’s performance with 30-plus games and 19 goals.

“If he’d have been playing a lot this year he would have been happy to finish his career at Arsenal. But because he wasn’t getting his game time, he looked at his career and decided he had to leave.

“He chose us and hopefully he’ll be a big player for us.”

Theo certainly seems to be happier now that he is a first team player again, and we can only hope that he doesn’t take out his frustration on the Arsenal defence this evening. He certainly knows exactly how they all play!

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42 Comments

  1. Yes Arsenal made a mistake
    selling Walcott this January.
    He should have been sold
    in July…..2015.

    1. Hahaha you are right! His pace and shooting accuracy are scary, but that’s all he can do. He would get marked easily by good defenders.

      Having said that, this boy knows Arsenal very well and it would be a big asset for Everton tonight. It would be better to use a more direct attacking approach to pin him (and Everton’s fullbacks) down in their own area.

    2. But walcott make 32 goal betwen 2015-2017 for arsenal in all competitions, included goal in fa cup final versus villa….

    3. barryglik, I would have sold him in 2008 at latest. I could see he was a scaredycat weed and lazy to his fingertips after he had played half a dozen games only. I have been banging on ceaselessly for almost a decade now to get rid of this weed. The disgace of wasting huge wages on this con man and non tryer, (but with beautiful manners and a personable smile that obviously fooled many Gooners) was IMO Wengers greatest of his hundreds of mistakes. I rejoice that this weed and con man has gone at long, long last!

  2. The mistake was either in not selling him some time ago OR in failing to devise a system to get the best out of him (and out of other players under Wenger … Reyes, Arshavin, Oxlade, Lacazette). Unfortunately Wenger does not have the tactical adaptability for that. He only has a game style which he cannot believe is wrong.

    1. The speedsters (Walcott, Aubameyang, Chamberlain, Bellerin) and the hardworkers (Lacazette, Sanchez, Ramsey, Wilshere) could flourish if Arsenal play to their strengths. Atletico Madrid and Leicester City use a pacey striker upfront and a hardworking attacking midfielder behind him to disrupt their opponent’s defense:

      ………………Schmeichel
      Simpson . Morgan . Huth . Fuchs
      Mahrez . Kante . Drinkwater . Albrighton
      ………………..Okazaki
      …………………Vardy

      ………………..Oblak
      Juanfran . Godin . Gimenez . Luis
      Carrasco . Saul . Gabi . Vitolo
      …………….Griezmann
      ……………….Torres

      Arsenal could also use Lacazette as the disruptor (like Okazaki or Griezmann) behind Aubameyang (like Vardy or Torres/ Costa).

  3. Arsenal have been clearing the weeds since last summer, now we will round it up by selling Xhaka,Chambers,Elneny,Cech,Ospina,and of course the master of them all ARSENE WENGER.
    I will party for 2 weeks if this happens.

  4. He has one thing going for him which is his pace.The problem is he has absolutely no football brain whatsoever so never new how to use it.The fact he never started a league game this Seson at least showed Wenger finally woke up to him.Glad he is gone and wish it had been years ago

    1. a very typical Wenger bad habit….

      when he gives a chance he will give lots of them…

      when its over…its over….same goes for Arshavin, Chamakh, and etc….

      but it appears the British core players have extra chance compared to their foreign counterparts….

      guess this is an English club after all…

  5. It maybe a big mistake to sign him….

    would have made a good supersub

    but hes pretty lazy…could have been useful if hes determined and hardworking….

    one of the last signings by Dein

  6. Big mistake selling him rather than using him properly. How the hell has Iwobi played instead of him this season? Ok, he has not developed enough ways to go past a defender but his speed, crossing / cutting back from the wings and his shooting skills in front of goal will be sorely missed. He will come back to haunt us this evening.
    Wenger Out.

  7. Ridiculous question to ask! We are the same fans who have been crying all decade for the man to go. And now, just because he scores two goals the other day, you pop up a meaningless question ??

    1. Don’t make a fuzz about it mate. An article need to b wrote.
      Some day we will see an article that reads, ” is Wenger really a failure for not winning EPL for Fourteen years?”.

    2. Well said for speaking the OBVIOUS TRUTH loud and clear. I snorted with derision when I read the title of this puerile article about this serial weed and con man. I would have sold him when he was still eighteen, before he had the chance to steal a decade of huge wages for being injured or hiding, timidly , well away from all those nasty rough opponents that might have hurt this little boy and sent him home crying to his Mummy. He is a sick joke and a disgrace and I am drunk with happiness now that he is Evertons problem not ours. He should take up flower arranging, where he will not get hurt. Or embroidery perhaps!

  8. Not everyone wanted him to go.
    Wenger going for wingbacks who cannot cross a ball, Kalasinac never even tries to and Bellerin over hits them, made Walcott rather redundant and he wasn’t given a cnance. So now we have signed a player who scores most goals from close range via crosses and cut backs and have no one to provide ammunition from the flanks. Lets hope Ozil has his laser guided passing boots on tonight for Auba to run on to. Having praised Walcott a bit, for all his faults, he did try, but I also hope someone clatters him early on too! Wenger Out.

    1. Walcott was never a good crosser of the ball BTW. Besides he was a very poor winger as he could not beat a defender on a one one one. The goals stats make him look better than he was an most of those goals were against very poor opposition in the cup competitions.

      1. @Abel are you sure of this statement? (The goals stats make him look better than he was an most of those goals were against very poor opposition in the cup competitions.)

        Go back and check the he scored against most of the big teams we have played, the first was chelsea (Carling Cup final 2-1), and others are Barcelona, Man United, Liverpool, Spurs, Man City, Baryern Munich and even Everton he now plays for. He has not only scored against the big four in EPL once, it is more than once and not to talk of the mid table teams. Get this right, scoring those goals are not fluke.

        I want you to know that it is not a problem if you dislike Theo but when you now say what is totally not true is unacceptable.

    2. Maybe AFC is moving away from crosses and revert more towards the old style of faster passing and balls into the feet/space for attackers to run onto.

      Sead may not cross the ball but he has made many passes into the box and he looks up to try and pick out a pass rather than blindly whip it in.

      That style of wingback could be better for a CF like Laca who has a burst of pace and auba who has pace to burn to meet those cutbacks and get a shot off.

      These are attackers who use their movement to make space.
      Giroud is a CF who uses his body to make space.

      I would like to think who you would prefer as the Right Attacker, Theo or Auba?
      I know Auba has done wonders as a CF but he did do wonders as a winger, Wenger has pointed to his earlier days as a winger and it is Wenger…

    3. GB , I don’t know who you have been watching all these years but Walcott is legendary for his crosses hitting the first defender. You can go to any church in the land and see more crosse than Walcott has ever successfully made. A joke and bone idle player and we are well rid of him , albeit a decade too late.

  9. He’s gone end of. Yes he probably will come back to haunt us tonight… but he wasn’t going anywhere here, yes that’s all down to Wenger I know, but we need new players and I am very happy with them. We’ve got rid of a lot of dead wood which is good so things can only get better from here COYG

  10. Yeah yeah yeah blah blah blah.even if he scores a winning goal against us tonight,it still wouldn’t flaw our decision to ship him out

  11. Walcott was a dangerous player to opponents, we blew him away cause we were so blind to see anything good in him.

    1. And exactly what good points did he have?Shows how much he was thought of at the club when a talentless plodder like Iwobi was preferred to him.Should have been shifted out years ago when it was obvious he was not going to develop into the player we were continually told he would become

  12. The best way to stop walcott is give him the ball somewhere near the half way line, then he will simply lose it. But give him it in or around the box and he will shoot at one of the worst keepers in the league and Arsenal have two of them.

    1. No he never really a footballer period! For him being English/homegrown and quota thing yes and also I am glad all those dead wood have been thinking for long time to be shown the door almost half are gone and we need six to seven more to have a good team and compete
      “Philosophy are things of the past and have proven time after time it’s against quality

  13. For a club with such a big fan base, I’m not surprised with the no of articles online everyday related to Arsenal. Some very poor ex football players criticise Wenger and AFC everyday. It’s unbearable the hate generated. Fans and their over the top reactions. I for once appreciate the fact that AFC doesn’t give in to media pressure, even when things are going bad.
    This article is one such example, even though I liked Walcott as a substitute.
    No AFC didn’t make a mistake, period.
    Just check on the comments on this website after every single defeat last season.

  14. Oh dear-The AKB’s won’t have it will they?Walcott typifies Wenger.How long was he at Arsenal?Did he ever develop?Did he ever truly deliver for us?Wenger allowed Walcott to force his hand in giving him a contract that rewarded him far above his pay grade when he really should have been shipped out and replaced.

    1. 1 person said Theo was dangerous and that gets you posting what you did?

      Theo does have talent but he got to comfortable at AFC, he was never going to be a true TH14 replacement and being given that number meant he had massive shoes to fill. He was being molded into the wrong type of CF, Theo was and is more like an Owen and could have been so much more if developed differently.

      Don’t see why you need to drag the AKB/AOB BS into this, when will fans drop this stupid tag and learn we all love AFC and we have different perspectives, agreeing with one aspect from AKB box doesn’t mean people will disagree with everything in the AOB box.

      It is irritating to constantly see AFC supporters spit when we all care for AFC.

      1. Midkenna, NO! You are wrong! THE VASY MAJORITY OF ALL ARSENAL FANS ARE DESPERATE THAT WENGERS GOES, ASAP. There are hardly ANY who STILL think Wenger knows best. You DO have a point though in that not everything he has done is wrong BUT he keeps making the same HUGE MISTAKES , year after year and almost all Gooners are sick to death of him. Your post tries , but fails, to make it seem 50/50 on him. It is not and you know it very well and so should be more honest. And yes you are right that we all love AFC. That is why virtually ALL of us want the thing that is actively harming us , him, out!

    2. Phil, There are hardly any AKB’s these days. Loads of Gooners who even a year ago still wanted him to stay are now keen that he goes. The brainwashed TY on Arsenal Fan TV is one of very, very few Wenger fans left.

  15. I have gone through all the comments and its plain clear that you guys are not his supporters but are afraid and scared of what he can do at the box.I feel the same.whatever the results, this guy will contribute a goal against us tonight.

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