Theo’s contract is up for renewal.

“We are starting to sit down with him.

“I think he has one-and-a-half years to go in December. It is never an easy job with him.

“It should be his peak years because he is 25. It’s the best years now, so hopefully we can profit from that.”

With these words in November, Arsène Wenger confirmed that contract negotiations with Theo Walcott were about to commence.

Although it feels like the last set of negotiations only took place five minutes ago, they were actually concluded in early 2013.

As Arsène alluded to, the contract extension turned into a bit of a saga and I reckon there were more than a few Arsenal fans thinking that Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeo was on his way out of the club.

Of course, at that stage in 2012, having already seen Cognitive Dissonance, Alex Song and Robin van Greybeard leave the club in the space of a year, Arsenal- and the fanbase- was in a very different place to where they are now.

The thought of yet another big talent leaving the club was, to most but not all, unpalatable.

So Theo ended up with a contract that few I knew thought he deserved.

Better that than the alternative though.

In fairness to Theo, it should be noted that he finished that 2012-13 season with 21 goals, 14 coming in the league.

Poker with Arsene

During the season that followed, he showed real signs of being able to deliver as a centre forward- particularly in that FA Cup match against Spurs but in that FA Cup match he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament and he’s only just back from that injury – just in time to play poker with Arsène.

If Theo held all the cards two years ago, that is clearly not the case now, particularly with the continued development of a player I think has all the tools to become an Arsenal great- the Ox.

With the signings of Alexis, Danny Welbeck and with Serge Gnabry also back from long term injury and surely looking to build on his first team breakthrough last year, there’s also Jack Wilshere to consider as well as the Cazorla/Özil question which we all await a resolution to as if it was an episode of The Wire.

What am I saying here?

I’m saying we’ve got options.

I’m saying we don’t have to break the bank on a 25-year-old footballer, who has been here nine years but has yet to make 200 appearances for the club.

I’m saying that the Theo Walcott we saw on Sunday afternoon was a microcosm of the Theo Walcott we can expect to see week in, week out ’til the day he takes his boots out of his locker at London Colney for the last time.

You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?

Yes, there was that wonderfully taken goal, the one that got us up and running and averted a potentially tricky opening half-hour at Brighton and there is his searing pace, a speed, incidentally, I’m not sure any other attacker on our roster can match.

But there is also the constant inability to make the right decision at the right time, the wasted counter attacks that on another day could cost us badly.

Theo is also, you may have noticed, quite injury prone.

walcott hospital

I remember once talking about a QPR winger, Lee Cook, with a friend and how his failure to sometimes beat his defender was a source of frustration for the Loftus Road crowd.  For me, it’s an inevitable fact of being a winger- you won’t always beat your man.

Failing to beat a player is not something Theo often has to worry about.

Be afraid, be very afraid

What he should worry about is his repeated failures to make the right decision- whether that’s to play a man in, keep going, or have a shot.

I’ve said repeatedly for a long time now- hell, I said it 4 paragraphs ago- I think the Ox has all it takes to become a great player for the Arsenal. He is a much more skilled and rounded player than Theo.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott
(Photo: Stuart McFarlane)

What the Ox lacks now is end product and, obviously, Theo’s blistering pace, but I see signs this year of an improvement. His buccaneering runs usually result in a something- playing a man in, a cross, a shot. Though his finishing still needs work, I don’t think he’s too far away from a decisive leap forward.

Even if you don’t share that view, I think the summer arrivals of Danny Welbeck and Alexis will present a problem for Theo in his negotiations.

Welbeck may not be as fast as Theo, he may not even be as adept at finishing as an in-form Theo, but the work he puts in on the pitch is phenomenal.

He is also 18 months younger than Theo and has only just signed his contract, pushing Theo down the pecking order as a centre forward option in the process, although I do believe that Theo still could be an Arsenal centre forward.

danny welbeck v newcastle

As for Alexis, I’m not sure what else there is to say about the man from Tocopilla.

He has had a stunning impact on this Arsenal team with 18 goals in 32 appearances.

It’s fairly obvious that this maquina has locked down his position, and one flank, in the side. Though the maturity of his game compared to Theo suggests otherwise, Alexis is also only four months older than Theo.

Alexis Sanchez Community Shield Final
Alexis Sanchez shone at Wembley and he’s been shining ever since (Photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images)

It may be that the Cazorla/Özil question is resolved by means of  rotation, but it’s difficult to see Mesut being left out of the side for too long while Cazorla’s current form makes him undroppable.

Then there is Gnabry. I can’t speak for you all, but, during his run in the side last autumn, I saw a player growing in stature by the minute and I am tremendously excited to see how he progresses.

He’s not the finished article by any means, but we saw in Serge a player who proved that he certainly has at least some of what it takes to flourish with Arsenal- this is no Denilson, nor Bendtner.

The point here is that we have so many wide options, Gnabry doesn’t have to be the finished article yet, he just needs to be around the first team. Am I advocating selling Theo to make room for Serge? No.

Well, kind of, maybe…

gnabry

Listen.

I can see that, having spent nine years developing him, selling him as he approaches what Arsène calls his “peak years” seems a little daft, but I don’t think Arsenal should be held over a barrel by a player, who for all his pace and finishing ability has flattered to deceive more often than most.

If Theo is happy to take what will almost certainly be a reasonable offer from Arsenal, then it would be a churlish man to argue that he is surplus to requirements.

As excited as I am by Gnabry, I’m not that churlish.

However, if Theo and his negotiating team were to get unreasonable, then I think the club have more than enough options to say goodbye to him, and do so, without regret.

Theo Walcott Arsenal's most important player