Walcott rejects Arsenal Deal - Sale Imminent

Theo Walcott has rejected the offer of a new contract from Arsenal, leaving the London club open to the sale of the 23 year-old Englishman in the final few days of the summer transfer window.

Walcott and his representatives reportedly informed Arsenal over the week-end that he has declined the lucrative extension to his current Arsenal contract which expires next summer. Talks continued today, however the refusal to sign on with Arsenal immediately suggests a hesitation over his future with the club, with questions over the direction Wenger's side is heading.

The sales of Robin van Persie and Alex Song this summer and the previous bitter waves of goodbye afforded to Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri the previous summer have clearly left Walcott questioning the ambition of Wenger. The start to the season has done little to quell worries over significant departures from the team, with a goal in the League yet to be achieved by Arsenal's new look front line.

While Wenger has added to the squad with the signings of Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla - all impressively talented players in their own right, costing the club almost £40 million - it is understandable for current players to feel worried about the future of their club, especially as top teams around them add to their squad without sacrificing their best players in order to do so.

Clubs interested in Walcott include Liverpool and Chelsea, with Arsenal hoping to bring in at least £15 million from the sale of the youngster who they purchased from Southampton in 2006 for a fee which eventually rose to £12 million.

Walcott has hit his best form so far with Arsenal over the past two years, reaching an all-time high of 13 assists last season, improving on the 11 he managed the season before. His contribution to the attacking force of Arsenal has been far more significant in recent years, showcasing the improvement in his football well, but inconsistency does remain a factor, with crosses still yet to be perfected and decision making still in question at times.

His pace however is his greatest feature, and it is something which has attracted some top clubs. Liverpool's spending is yet to be completed, with Brendan Rodgers insisting that more depth to his squad is required, whilst Manchester City may also hold and interest in Walcott as their deal to sign Swansea's Scott Sinclair stalls.

Wenger will hope that further discussion with Walcott persuades him to stay at the Emirates, as the French manager has described the winger as "very important" to his Arsenal side, but here lies the issue with letting the best players go - it sets an unwelcome precedent and gets other players thinking about their own future too.

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Theo Walcott Worth £25 million?

Perhaps it's understandable that Arsenal are still yet to open contract talks with their 23 year-old winger Theo Walcott, whose current deal expires in 12 months time. Without being too unreasonable to Walcott, the club really do have bigger issues to address with the apparently inevitable departure of the Premier League's top scorer and currently one of the most prolific and in form strikers of the moment in Robin van Persie, so contract talks with an inconsistent and unpredictable winger aren't and really shouldn't be taking priority.

Fans of Walcott will be pleased to hear that Arsene Wenger will open talks with the winger during Arsenal's upcoming tour of Asia which the squad will depart for on Saturday afternoon. During these negotiations however, Wenger will supposedly be told that the England winger will hold out for wages of £100,000 per week - an amount Wenger will most likely be unwilling to agree to considering that even van Persie is earning £30,000 less at £70,000.

But that isn't the big news. Theo Walcott demanding a massive pay rise despite struggling to complete a season in which he can keep up a good spell of form rather than offering only short bursts of attacking effectiveness is rather ambitious of him, granted, but in this case, it's not the biggest news. No, the apparent £25 million bid for Walcott from Chelsea is the news that bewilders.

That is quite an astonishing bid from Chelsea, and yet another clear sign that as long as you represent England internationally your value in the transfer market has at least £10 million added to what it realistically should be based on talent and what you have displayed of it.

Walcott had his best season with the Gunners last season, scoring 11 goals and assisting 13 in 46 appearances. While that may be impressive for the 23 year-old, it is a 23 year-old who has been building up to this sort of season for six years at Arsenal under the guidance of Wenger and some of the best players to have played in the red shirt for the Gunners such as Thierry Henry whose legendary shirt number Walcott adopted.

The £11 million fee Arsenal paid Southampton back in 2006 when Walcott was just 17 was of course in light of the potential Wenger believed he had, but some would question whether or not that amount has been paid back in the patchy performances he has delivered. However, perhaps the improvement last season is what has caught the eye of Chelsea's new manager Roberto Di Matteo and Liverpool's Brendan Rodgers, who is also reportedly eyeing up Arsenal's winger.

Perhaps this is typical Arsenal; they have developed him as far as he can go - nurtured him into something beyond just a promising young starlet at Southampton with a lot of exciting potential and into someone who despite not yet being the completed article, is ready to move on to better things. It is a similar circumstance which has seen the best Arsenal players of the last few years leave and it is soon to show van Persie out of the Emirates door.

This supposed £25 million offer makes things even more astonishing considering Walcott's current contract situation - he could leave at the end of next season for nothing, and if Arsenal win no silverware yet again which remains all too likely a possibility, he won't be signing a new contract at the end of it. Yet, despite all of these things, Arsenal rejected the offer.

Indeed, sometimes, he can change a game for the better with his stunning pace and bursts into the box as he proved at Euro 2012 when he arrived from the bench against Sweden. Other times he is awfully wasteful with useless decision making as he runs faster than he can think. If this is what Chelsea believe is worth £25 million, then Arsenal should bite their hand off and while their at it offer them Robin van Persie for £100 million.

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Van Persie Talks - Walcott Finished

Arsenal may not have been able to score on Saturday against Chelsea, but if they were to have hit the back of the net, the source of the goal would have most likely been from a certain Robin van Persie, whose 27 League goals this season places him at the top of the Premier League goalscorers list.

It is that incredible tally of vitally important goals and inspirational form this season which piles added pressure on Arsenal to keep their captain at the club this summer, amidst speculation of several interested clubs, readying huge offers to persuade the Dutchman away from London.

With 12 months left on his Arsenal contract, van Persie is yet to agree an extension on his deal, leaving his future in a fragile position. The last thing Arsene Wenger wants is his best and most important player leaving for a second summer in a row.

Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas left the club last summer, and Wenger will do his utmost to avoid a repetition of such events this time around, saying that the Arsenal strikers' future will be dealt with before the start of the Euro 2012 competition: "Robin’s future will be sorted at the end of the season. Before the Euros."

On the other hand, Arsenal's second highest scorer this season Theo Walcott, is quite certain of his immediate future. He will miss the remainder of the club season with a "serious" hamstring injury and will be out for a minimum of 21 days, meaning he is unlikely to play again for Arsenal, whose season ends at West Brom on the 13th May. Wenger said:

"It looks like a serious hamstring. I think now for him it will be tough to come back before the end of the season."It is usually 21 days [minimum]. He should be OK to play for England."

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