Theo Walcott

MrJoeSoap

Thought it was a bit of shame that potentially the worlds most expensive 16 year old didn't have a thread to himself.

It very much seems as if he is off to Arsenal in the next week or so, perhaps to be loaned straight back to Southampton until the end of this season or perhaps next season. Can't really blame him for wanting to leave, he's not exactly a part of a great team at the moment. Anything above £10m or so would be a great deal for Southampton, especially if we were to get another 18 months out of Theo.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2093-1986209,00.html - Walcott the new Rooney

Cheers for all the (five!) goals Theo!

Kingp35

Great player with great potential but s I said before I think he would be better staying at Southampton for a while and learning his trade before moving on. He doesnt want to become the next Shaun Wright-Phillips and find himself playing in a reserve side. If Southampton can strike a deal where he stays with them until the end of next season then I think that would suit all parties as Southampton would have him to help their promotion charge (if there is one at Southampton ) and get a lot of money, Walcott will continue to play first team football and Arsenal will eventually get a better and more experienced player.

I dont think it would be right if he moved to Arsenal straight away or even at the end of the season because I dont think he is ready yet. Either way I think Southampton are going to cash in big time which will allow them to bring in a number of players to help them get back up.

KdjaCL

Young players with talent usually go one of 2 ways either they need to be playing and training at a high level or need games with bigger men kicking the **** out of them. I think Walcott needs to be at Arsenal to protect him as he has the talent and if Wenger gets his hands on him he will create a better player than if he stays in Div 1 on loan.


I hope he joins right away and plays vs Real


kdjac

PHB

Mourinho knows about me?” Noting Shaun Wright-Phillips’s plight, Walcott is not convinced that Chelsea would provide adequate playing opportunities, however.

Way hay, finally a kid with some sense!

Lemlin

KdjaC wrote:

Young players with talent usually go one of 2 ways either they need to be playing and training at a high level or need games with bigger men kicking the **** out of them. I think Walcott needs to be at Arsenal to protect him as he has the talent and if Wenger gets his hands on him he will create a better player than if he stays in Div 1 on loan.


I hope he joins right away and plays vs Real


kdjac

Not sure if he'd be ready for Real. I can't see Wenger just shelling out 10 million on an unproven, young player myself. He's already had bad experiences with Franny Jeffers and Pennant.

MrJoeSoap

Lemlin wrote:

Not sure if he'd be ready for Real. I can't see Wenger just shelling out 10 million on an unproven, young player myself. He's already had bad experiences with Franny Jeffers and Pennant.

Well its almost certainly going to happen. It will probably be £5m up front with additional fee's, as is the norm.

KdjaCL

Lemlin wrote:

Not sure if he'd be ready for Real. I can't see Wenger just shelling out 10 million on an unproven, young player myself. He's already had bad experiences with Franny Jeffers and Pennant.

Look at Liverpools and man utds released list over the last 10 years, tonnes of possibles loaned out but never fulfiled their potential as they werent getting the kind of coaching on loan that was needed to complete them as a player. Walcott is special he has pace vision and skill. All he needs is better players to play against week in week out not players who can take some of his leg with them as a souvenir(sp).

And im going to the arse madrid game and have a few quid on arse winning the CL
kdjac

Pepe LeFrits

Walcott seems to be a fairly grounded young fella though, while Pennant and Jeffers were anything but. I think the ideal place for Walcott to be right now would be at a mid level premiership side, where he will get playing opportunities but won't be overplayed. They are kicking the crap out of him in the Championship from what I understand.

Anyway, until I hear something official from Arsenal...

Wenger could well be after other players.

Royale with Cheese

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

Walcott seems to be a fairly grounded young fella though, while Pennant and Jeffers were anything but. I think the ideal place for Walcott to be right now would be at a mid level premiership side, where he will get playing opportunities but won't be overplayed. They are kicking the crap out of him in the Championship from what I understand.

Anyway, until I hear something official from Arsenal...

Wenger could well be after other players.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/4614538.stm

This slip was probably intentional. Looking more and more likely that this will go through during this transfer window.

Royale with Cheese

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/4614538.stm

Titty biscuits. Once again can we all thank Chelsea for ruining the transfer market.

MrJoeSoap

It will still go ahead, I'm almost sure of that. Chelsea may be "ruining the transfer market" but at least the smaller clubs are benefitting from their financial generosity.

masterK

Can somebody explain to me why such huge fees are being mentioned when the player has yet to sign a professional contract, my understanding of the current transfer system workings is that no fee is involved for signing a player before they sign a professional contract, compenstation would be due though, but it usually decided by a tribunal. What is different to the situation of Pique to United and Fabregas to Arsenal?

robbie1876

Was thinking the same thing, masterK, but don't know enough about it to accurately comment. I guess it's down to whatever clauses are in his contract with Southampton.

He's surely going to Arsenal though, he's being compared to a young Henry for a reason, and Wenger has proven that he can turn young Henrys into world class striker Henrys.

And kdjac ya lucky sod, was trying to score tickets for that match myself. Have a good one buddy.

3greenrizla's

masterK wrote:

Can somebody explain to me why such huge fees are being mentioned when the player has yet to sign a professional contract, my understanding of the current transfer system workings is that no fee is involved for signing a player before they sign a professional contract, compenstation would be due though, but it usually decided by a tribunal. What is different to the situation of Pique to United and Fabregas to Arsenal?

as far as i can see it's down to THEO and his father wanting SAINTS to get a propper fee for him & not the £500,000 compensation that they would get through tribunal.

it's nice to see that there is some loyality left in the game.

But THEO can go whereever he wants, so i can't see him going to Chelski.

Hopefully he will stay at saints, i still think that a playoff spot is within reach, if we finish in the top 6 Walcott, Nathen Dyer (also very very quick) & dexter Blackstock will bring us back to the prem.

MrJoeSoap

Theo has signed an academy contract with Southampton which means Southampton can command whatever fee they wish for Theo. Once he turns 17 he can leave for a fee decided by a tribunal, provided he hasn't signed a contract with Saints. The maximum Southampton can offer is a three year deal.

Apparently 3greenrizlas is right, Theo does want Southampton to get the absolute most out of any potential deal.

therecklessone

I presume this has some bearing on events:

bbc wrote:

Walcott, who has a pre-contract agreement with the Saints to sign a professional contract on his 17th birthday in March,

MrJoeSoap

http://www.saintschat.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=84130

The situation is explained in more detail there.

TheDoc

They turned down a 10 million pound bid from Arsenal today.

Legally he is not bound to Southampton, as you may or may not know, you are not bound to any legal document until you are 18 or over.
Because he is only 16 and on an apprentiship deal, as far as I gather he is actually a free agent, though I think as respect for southampton he wont leave till they get a good deal.

But officially and legally he is not bound to a club till he turns 18....

therecklessone

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote:

They turned down a 10 million pound bid from Arsenal today.

Legally he is not bound to Southampton, as you may or may not know, you are not bound to any legal document until you are 18 or over.
Because he is only 16 and on an apprentiship deal, as far as I gather he is actually a free agent, though I think as respect for southampton he wont leave till they get a good deal.

But officially and legally he is not bound to a club till he turns 18....

Read Joe's link above.

Cheers Joe.

MrJoeSoap

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote:

They turned down a 10 million pound bid from Arsenal today.

Legally he is not bound to Southampton, as you may or may not know, you are not bound to any legal document until you are 18 or over.
Because he is only 16 and on an apprentiship deal, as far as I gather he is actually a free agent, though I think as respect for southampton he wont leave till they get a good deal.

But officially and legally he is not bound to a club till he turns 18....

Have a read of the link.

I'm getting fed up of the BBC coming out with new stories about this and re-hashing the same old quotes from the middle and end of last week. If they are going to keep making claims they could at least have some sources and/or quotes.

masterK

As I suspected he legally can leave Southampton at the end of his Academy contract and before signing a professional contract and all Southampton would be entitled to whatever compensation a football tribunal deems fit.

It's very encouraging to hear that one of his main priorities are to make sure Southampton are looked after, which would surely be at the expense of his own financial gain, something you don't see too often in the modern game.

MrJoeSoap

masterK wrote:

As I suspected he legally can leave Southampton at the end of his Academy contract and before signing a professional contract and all Southampton would be entitled to whatever compensation a football tribunal deems fit.

The latest on that situation is that the fee would actually be closer to £500k than to £2m. :eek:

It's very encouraging to hear that one of his main priorities are to make sure Southampton are looked after, which would surely be at the expense of his own financial gain, something you don't see too often in the modern game.

Yes, its very encouraging and good to see.

3greenrizla's

masterK wrote:

It's very encouraging to hear that one of his main priorities are to make sure Southampton are looked after, which would surely be at the expense of his own financial gain, something you don't see too often in the modern game.

it's great to hear, but he is also worried about saints (in particular Rupert Lowe) selling him off to the highest bidder - Chelski, and being left in the reserves.

fair enough i suppose

MrJoeSoap

3greenrizla's wrote:

it's great to hear, but he is also worried about saints (in particular Rupert Lowe) selling him off to the highest bidder - Chelski, and being left in the reserves.

There is no way that could happen. Theo has the final say in any potential move, as does any footballer. If he doesn't want to join Chelsea, he won't. If he does want to join Arsenal, he more than likely will.

that third player may also be thomas rosicky from dortmund. Would say it is walcott though. too much speculation heating up

GuanYin

I'm kinda disappointed that he's going to Arsenal.

From an Irish point of view it bodes poorly for the chance of Stokes to come through and develop.

I really wonder if walcott is that good or is he just another over-hyped young english player. For every Rooney to come through, the tabloids have trumped up another 9 thatfade to obscurity.

How much better than the likes of stokes is he?

arbeitsscheuer

Wenger's record of signings, being turned into successes, speaks for itself...

But so does his relatively poor record on signing young English hopefuls.

Pennant, Upson, Jeffers... A trio signed for about £11 million altogether who couldn't cope at Arse. Of the 3, Upson was the only one who I was sad to see the back of, I reckon he should've stayed, but that's another story.

I have never seen this kid play, nor hav I seen Diaby or Adebayor, so I'm not gonna get caught into this Tabloid-trap over overhyping players I've never seen play, reardless of the statistics (5 goals in 12 games).

But as we Arsenal fans say, almost as a mantra by this stage;

Wenger Knows.

jank

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/4614538.stm

Looks like we will find out in a few hours where he is going....

Pepe LeFrits

According to BBC South, Walcott is going to Highbury for a medical tomorrow - the deal being £5m up front, and another £7m dependant on appearances. Absolutely delighted if that's true.

The fans on SaintsForever.com seem a bit down about it though.

jank

Good stuff, good stuff. Was getting worried there for a while.

Now all we need is Rockisy(sp?), and ill be happy.

arbeitsscheuer

jank wrote:

Now all we need is Rockisy(sp?), and ill be happy.

It's Rosicky, Borussia Dortmund player and probably Czech Rep's best player (along with Nedved, who's been persuaded to come out of international retirement for one last hurrah wit the national side for WC2006).

And no, we won't be signing him. Why not, you cry?

Well, because speculation about him only came up because his agent blabbed about Arse being interested and the player himself professing a desire to move to highbury. Recently, Rosicky and his agent have backpedalled with such talk... Coinciding nicely with Arsenal almost completing the Walcott deal.

As I had previously suspected, Arsenal were only gonna sign Rosicky if they couldn't get their first choice: Walcott.

Now that they HAVE got their star-man, there is no longer any need to buy Rosicky.

MrJoeSoap

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

The fans on SaintsForever.com seem a bit down about it though.

Surprised? I'm going over in a month, just hope he is loaned back so I get a chance to see him play for us in the flesh.

Have you got any lnks cos I can't find any on the BBC?

Jivin Turkey

SebtheBum wrote:

As I had previously suspected, Arsenal were only gonna sign Rosicky if they couldn't get their first choice: Walcott.

Now that they HAVE got their star-man, there is no longer any need to buy Rosicky.

I would have hardly thought that Walcott and Rosicky were similar type players and it was an either or scenario.

Rosicky is a player that would hugely benefit the Arsenal team immediately. I fail to see how Walcott will. I'm sure Wenger just didn't want to pass up the opportunity to sign a talented youngster. I wouldn't think though that is definitely the end of any interest in Rosicky however.

psi wrote:

From an Irish point of view it bodes poorly for the chance of Stokes to come through and develop.

I really wonder if walcott is that good or is he just another over-hyped young english player. For every Rooney to come through, the tabloids have trumped up another 9 thatfade to obscurity.

How much better than the likes of stokes is he?

Sense of irony here, no?

Davei141

Jivin Turkey wrote:

Sense of irony here, no?

Exactly, if he was good enough he would be in the team.

GuanYin

Davei141 wrote:

Exactly, if he was good enough he would be in the team.

Which team? Arsenal?

I'd be very surprised if Walcott makes it into the Arsenal team in the next 2 seasons.

Stokes has a first team squad number andmade 1 FT appearance. He is still only 19 and Arsenal have alot of young strikers coming through.

Wenger rates stokes as one of the best.

Walcott is in the southampton team, I'd argue that the Arsenal Reserve team is of an equal if not higher standard that southampton at the moment.

jank

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/4614538.stm

99% of the way there now. I wonder if wenger will put him in the first team squad this season. Id say there would be a few subsitute apearances during the later stages of the season..

Bad news for Arsenal is that Cole is injured again but will only be out for about 10 days. Gilbert will fill in.

PHB

So much money for such a young talent, this really is unheard of and a massive transfer record.
Very interesting, I wonder how good he will be.
p.s.
It's great to see some kids with sense, not choosing to go to a club where he'll be on the bench for the next 10 years, but going somewhere where he can develop

jank

PHB wrote:

So much money for such a young talent, this really is unheard of and a massive transfer record.
Very interesting, I wonder how good he will be.
p.s.
It's great to see some kids with sense, not choosing to go to a club where he'll be on the bench for the next 10 years, but going somewhere where he can develop

Well from what I hear 5 million up front the rest based on the usual apperances, so if it doenst work out it will only cost Arsenal that initial figure.
However if he makes it into the first team for Arsenal and England, bangs in a load of goals then they will have to pay the full amount...but if that happens he would be worth more then double that....

Its high alright but I trust Wenger..

MrJoeSoap

Done deal @ £12.5m. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/4614538.stm

I'm a bit confused though, does he stay with us until his birthday or what?

Lemlin

According to Sky Sports, its 5 million up front and then appearance fees etc.

He will apparently be loaned back to Southampton until he is 17. He can't sign professional papers until then.

robbie1876

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Done deal @ £12.5m. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/4614538.stm

That article is really just a hodge-podge of snippets of Theo related news they have acquired over the last week. The most frustrating part about this whole transfer saga has been the BBC's 'coverage' of it.

EDIT: They seem to have just edited the article down to just a couple of paragraphs now, still with no real news in it. They've taken out my favourite bit, which was when they said that Walcott has decided his future is at Highbury, which is funny considering he will spend the rest of this season at Southampton

Vokes

The previous BBC report said that Wenger wouldn't loan Walcott back to Southampton as he would be playing too many games for them.

robbie1876

Well apparantly now it appears that Walcott can't be loaned back to Southampton for 2 reasons - According to FA regulations, scholars cannot be loaned, and secondly, Wenger wants complete responsibilty of Walcott's development.

Lovely jubbly.

Roddy23

This is great news, and a fantastic acquisition for the price. Also the way Arsenal structured the deal in accordance with Walcott's progresses, doesn't mean he is such a gamble ala Jeffers.


Taken from arsenal.com website

"Theo will immediately join up with his new team mates and will wear the Arsenal number 32 shirt this season. "

vorbis

its a good signing, would hope though that we still sign an experienced midfielder and perhaps another defended. No good having an awesome strikeforce when you have Cygan at the back.

Lemlin

Roddy23 wrote:

This is great news, and a fantastic acquisition for the price. Also the way Arsenal structured the deal in accordance with Walcott's progresses, doesn't mean he is such a gamble ala Jeffers.


Taken from arsenal.com website

"Theo will immediately join up with his new team mates and will wear the Arsenal number 32 shirt this season. "

Good signing for Arsenal. Shows Chelsea can't buy all the best young players.

I'd say Wenger will keep him on the bench and throw him on in a few games where Arsenal are winning 3 or 4 nil and showboating.

jank

http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?article=355413&lid=NewsHeadline&sub=Young+forward+Theo+Walcott+signs+for+Arsenal&navlid=&sublid=&Title=Young+forward+Theo+Walcott+signs+for+Arsenal

He looks really happy anyway..

Hope he gets a few runs out this season but if not well he has all the time in the world to develop..

Davei141

Anyone feel like putting their foot up Rupert Lowe's arse when he was whinging about not being able to flog him to chelsea? What a ****.

MrJoeSoap

Davei141 wrote:

Anyone feel like putting their foot up Rupert Lowe's arse when he was whinging about not being able to flog him to chelsea? What a ****.

I've felt like doing more than that for quite some time now. Any chance of seeing this money spent on players Rupert? Not a ****ing hope.

The Muppet

MrJoeSoap wrote:

I've felt like doing more than that for quite some time now. Any chance of seeing this money spent on players Rupert? Not a ****ing hope.

Looks like the BBC did have a source Eh ?

Dr. Nick

Judge for yourselves:

http://www.youtube.com/w/Theo-Walcott?v=knw4vHeBo4s&search=walcott