It’s time for Walcott to go out on loan
2 comments January 24th, 2008
The Daily Mail claims that Arsenal have contacted several Premier League sides about taking teenage striker Theo Walcott on loan. Whilst the story seems unlikely at best – with Robin van Persie injured and Emmanuel Adebayor facing a suspension, we need all the forwards we can get – I believe that sooner or later a loan spell for Walcott is inevitable.
When Arsene signed him he refused to loan him back to Southampton for fear he would be overplayed. Now approaching his nineteenth birthday, Walcott is reaching an age whereby the opposite effect has been engendered: he is not getting enough games to make the neccessary progress.
A temporary move to a smaller club with less pressure to perform could bring out the best in Walcott. If he were able to find a place in a side like Newcastle or Portsmouth, he’d be able to get fairly regular games in a side with attacking ambitions and a style of football that aspires to emulate our own.
Theo is not where any of us expected him to be at this stage in his development. Which means something, somewhere isn’t working. A loan spell could bring about a change in his fortunes, and for that reason alone, I believe it’s a good idea.
It certainly did good things for Nicklas Bendtner, whose fracas with Emmanuel Adebayor has launched all kinds of sensationalist headlines. And to an extent, with reason.
No-one likes to see this kind of thing between team-mates. Adebayor has since excused his actions, and seeing as his frustrations with the evening’s performance were shared by most fans, he can expect a degree of understanding. Nevertheless, he must be careful not to allow his passion to boil over, as in the Carling Cup final last year, and in this incedent with Bendtner.
Hopefully Arsene will put the incident behind us in his press conference tomorrow, and the pair can get on with trying to win some silverware and attone for the various crimes of Tuesday night.
Finally, this. Ha. Ha. Ha.
