From Stan Mortlock :
Myles,
I have been reading your articles since ANR started.
I especially enjoy those articles where you give your insight and inside stories about the Arsenal.
There are 2 football seasons, the playing season and the silly season where every major club is linked with every footballer .
I guess that if a journalist links a club with 200 transfers he would have to be right once or twice.
However, there is one story that I believe that the journalists have missed by not joining up the dots.
Do you believe that Walcott is serious about signing a new contract?
I think he will run down his contract and sign for Chelsea on a free in June 2016 and will receive an £11 million pound signing on fee.
These are the dots.
1. How is it every other footballer can sign or not sign without it taking months?
2. How is it Walcott cannot sign in the football season and cannot sign in the off season?
3. Even his comments give me doubt about his true intentions –“ I am leaving it up to others “–sounds like when he does not sign it will not be his fault.
4. Mourinho offered Cech in exchange for Walcott and was turned down by Wenger.
5. Mourinho is said to be fuming that this offer was rejected.
6. Mourinho always has to win, even if banned from a match he will enter and exit the stadium in a laundry basket and boast of it afterwards.
7. Mourinho does not accept that the F.A. rules apply to him – he is so blatant that he does his tapping up of Cole in a restaurant in public view .
8. So I am sure that if Mourinho wanted to get a message to Walcott about an £11 million signing on fee he would find a way. Then in June 2016 he can announce that he got the best of the deal when he let Cech sign for Arsenal for £11 million pounds but got Walcott for free.
De Gea and Sterling both said that they were not prepared to sign a new contract and it was back page news every day .
However I think that Walcott intends to keep stalling until the transfer deadline closes, so that Arsenal cannot try to offload him or to bring in another striker. He will hope to score 20 league goals to get the best possible contract from Chelsea.
One of your comments that I like best is that football is all about partnerships so it would be a waste of 12 months to develop partnerships between Walcott and Ozil and Sanchez.
I think that if he does not sign by 9 August then Wenger should send him to play with the reserves and either buy a replacement now or to give Akpom a chance.
Myles says:
Don’t worry about Theo leaving, Stan.
He’s in it for the money and fame but Arsenal’s his comfort zone.
HE’D BE LOST & SCARED ELSEWHERE.
If you close your eyes and listen carefully, you’ll hear the faint sound of Theo tweeting in the distance: Theo…Theo……Theo …..theoh….
On his best night or day Walcott will never be more than two-thirds of a good footballer.
OK, he’s brave and very fast and can finish. In a minor way, he’s an icon.
In my view, Walcott wouldn’t get a regular starts at Chelsea.
And the scenario you outline would not be allowed to happen by AW.