Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger admitted that Theo Walcott is very difficult when it comes to contract negotiations and that a new deal is not close despite there being just over a year left in his present one
Arsene said, “The first contacts have been established with the embassy. We will see how that progresses politically.
“Walcott was difficult to convince [for his previous contract] and that is why it took us much time. We started very early with him but it was slow progress.
“He is very quick on the pitch but off the pitch, not always.”
“I want him to stay and be a regular player and fight for his place,” he said.
“But no matter where you go, if it is a big club, you have to compete for your place. We went to Manchester United on Monday night – look at what they had on the bench.
“Look at what was sitting on the bench at Chelsea v Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night. That is part of the job.”
Since his return to the team from injury, Walcott has not had regular starts, with Alexis and Oclade-Chamberlain being preferred over him on the right side. This could very well become a problem during contract negotiations as Theo might insist on more starts, in the same way he insisted that he would only sign a new contract if he were assured of a central striker’s role
When asked if it would indeed come into play, Arsene said, “Of course. I bought Sánchez and Welbeck because you are responsible for a club and when you know a player is out for a year and will not play until January, you cannot sacrifice the first six months.
“Then, Giroud was injured and was ruled out for four months – people don’t want to know how long they will be out, they want players to play.”
However, Arsene said the reason he didn’t start Walcott in more games was more as a precaution for his long injury. He said, “He is ready now to play games. But when a player has been out for a year, when he comes back he always thinks he is ready. When you speak to him three weeks later and ask him if he thinks he really was ready [before] he says, ‘Now I realise, no’.
“I have been holding him back because he has been out for a long time and for the fact there is intense competition.”
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