Thursday, 1st November, 2012
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that there is urgency over the club agreeing a new contract with forward Theo Walcott.
The 23-year-old hit a hat-trick in the Gunners’ remarkable 7-5 win away at Reading in the League Cup on Tuesday night, but there is concern that his current deal is running out at the Emirates Stadium.
At present Walcott will be out of contract at Arsenal next summer and could move elsewhere. The forward could even choose to pen a pre-contractual agreement with another club in January.
And so, Wenger wants the England international’s future resolving before Christmas, rather than dragging on and overshadowing events on the pitch.
"I’ve not thought about that [losing him], because at the moment I think we will still manage to make a deal with him", the Frenchman told his club’s official site, stressing he currently believes Walcott will stay.
"There is urgency [about sorting it out]", he admitted. "We want to sort it out before Christmas, one way or the other."
relatedNewsStoryWalcott has stated that he wants to play up front rather than out wide and that is seen as the key to a new contract being signed between club and player.
But Wenger has different options down the middle and it remains to be seen whether the Frenchman is prepared to play Walcott as an out and out striker ahead of his other goal-getters.
Walcott has been linked with a number of clubs, including Liverpool and Juventus, and would be sure to generate substantial interest should he choose to move away from the Emirates Stadium.
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