2013 may only be a few weeks old, but the season is already shaping up to be an exciting one. As the annual coursework workload piles up and the interesting stories keep coming in, there's a lot to talk about; whether it's Adkins getting sacked, Benitez's ever-worsening Chelsea adventure or Mike Dean's mere presence on a football pitch that makes Gooners' blood boil. However, with me being a Gooner myself, there's only one place to start.
After a tumultuous few months, Arsenal fans breathed a huge sigh of relief this morning as Theo Walcott signed a brand spanking new contract. That's 3 more years of Theo at the Emirates. It is absolutely brilliant news.
For a club that is becoming known for selling their best players, I don't know what is more astonishing; the fact that we have sealed this deal despite so much uncertainty, or that Theo Walcott has become arguably our best player at the moment.
Because if you think back to before this season and beyond, we'd be urging Theo towards the exit door if anything, especially with Liverpool seemingly willing to pay for his services. He would be quality one week and so-so the next. Finally, this season has seen a very sudden but very welcome burst of consistency that has entered his game; and in addition to that, his finishing has been almost top-notch.
He still misses the odd sitter (i.e. Wednesday night), but you only have to re-watch his Newcastle hat-trick (I have many times) to realise what we would be missing. Each one that night, an absolute peach. I would say we would be moronic to let him go, but I still can't justify the reasons for selling RVP to United, albeit for that sizeable fee. We've created a monster at Old Trafford, but maybe tying Theo down to this deal is a case of lessons learned.
The only problem - and there always is one - is the terms of the deal. The details of the agreement are never really spoken about but I am under the impression that the contract means we will be seeing a lot more of Theo up top. Whereas I think he's becoming increasingly better with decision making and finishing whilst in that position, I'm wondering where it leaves our other central strikers.
I'm not talking about Gervinho or Chamakh, of course not. I'm talking about Giroud and any future centre forward. Talk about Cavani joining us would ordinarily make me delirious. While Cavani would vastly improve the front line, we can only ever play one central striker at a time in the current formation - even playing Poldi on the wing (and Giroud on the bench) is pushing it. I've always said Adrian from Atletico would satisfy me the most - Cavani seems too big a player to join Arsenal, surely?
Rather than thinking about the next few weeks though, it's only right we look further into the future with a bit of stability under our belts - well, more than poor Southampton anyway. Now we can get back on track in the league and cup with a team with a much stronger backbone and core than before. It looks like this squad is now here for keeps. Cheers, Theo.
Come On You Reds!
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