Wenger's Gamble on Walcott

It has become a tradition that a big star would leave Emirates Stadium every summer. No matter how Arsene Wenger reiterates his ambition in building a title-winning team, what he has done in the past few years has not backed him up. As the fans have gradually lost faith in the French professor, it seems destined that Theo Walcott will be out of the door in the coming summer, following his ex-team mates Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie to fulfil their career ambition, or more precisely a title.

The speculation all started when Walcott, whose best position has been on the flank, openly declared his desire to play in the more central position and reportedly refused to commit his future to the club, unless his demand is accepted. His honesty was rewarded with an immediate drop in the pecking order.

It would be hard to blame Wenger for dropping Walcott. He might be the best right winger in Arsenal, but for sure not the best centre forward. With Arsenal favouring a one-striker system, Walcott's chance of proving his capability was further limited. However, it was not long until his patience paid off. With neither Gervinho nor Giroud scoring goals, Walcott was granted more playing time as a striker and he rewarded Wenger's faith by emerging as the Gunner's leading goalscorer in all competitions. Halfway through the transfer window, it is rumoured that Theo Walcott has accepted a contract until 2016 summer, with at least £100,000 a week. The pacey winger appears to be the winner of this mind game with his clinical performance in the past few months.

Seeing Walcott shoot does not make you think he'll score

Nevertheless, I truly doubt the deal has created a win-win situation. Despite scoring a handful of goals, Walcott has not been the influential centre forward Arsenal has been searching for. Already not possessing the strongest physique, Walcott is never comfortable playing with his back to goal. Unlike other minute forwards in the league, for example Carlos Tevez, Javier Hernandez and Jermain Defoe, Theo Walcott is not a fan of physical contact and can seldom outmuscle the defenders. This has limited his effectiveness in linking up plays in a central position. His movement and anticipation in the box are yet to be improved. Together with his lack of height, he is seldom the receiver of crosses from fullbacks. After all, he is the defenders' nightmare only when he runs directly at them.

Apart from letting Walcott play as a striker, it is peculiar that Wenger also grants him increasing responsibility in set pieces in a team with Santi Cazorla and Mikel Arteta; set-piece specialists at their former clubs respectively. It is an unknown whether he has demonstrated exceptional set pieces talents in training but if so it sure has not been translated in competitive matches. All of a sudden, He is as if an ambitious youngster who is trying to achieve multi-goals at the same time, but is not particularly outstanding in neither of them.

Having never convinced the world of his capability as a centre forward, Theo Walcott did not cause such a huge stir in the market last summer as his former teammate Van Persie did. Finally, Arsenal is determined to retain the fans’ favourite with a luxurious contract. Is it just a move to prevent losing the England international for nothing, rather than trusting his potential to become a proficient striker? Wenger's reluctance to spend has already been questioned. Having already missed out on bargain deals on Michu and Demba Ba, unless Walcott can quickly improve in various aspects of his game and fire Arsenal to at least retain European qualification, the noise asking for Wenger's resignation will only intensify.