da blaze casino： According to Gambling Times football inside Graeme Bailey, West Ham United are one of three Premier League clubs interested in signing out-of-favour Arsenal attacker Theo Walcott during the January transfer window.
da brwin： The Gambling Times says that the 28-year-old has been told that he could be sold in the New Year unless he proves that he still has a long-term future with the north London outfit over the course of the next three months, with the Irons, Southampton and Everton all said to be keen on the winger.
While the report adds that Walcott believes he can prove to Arsene Wenger that he can still play a big part in his manager’s plans going forward, he will also be considering moving on as he looks to reclaim his spot in the England squad ahead of next summer’s World Cup in Russia.
Meanwhile, Hammers boss Slaven Bilic is under huge pressure following a disappointing start to the campaign and while he may already be looking at players to strengthen his squad in 2018, the Arsenal forward is not what his side need right now.
Here are three reasons West Ham should steer clear of signing Walcott…
They’ve got Antonio
While Walcott had a brief flirt with playing as a centre-forward during his time with Arsenal, it is pretty clear to many that his strongest position is when he plays wide on the right.
That would certainly bring a problem if West Ham wanted to bring the 28-year-old to the London Stadium though, considering one of their best players and last season’s Hammer of the Year Michail Antonio also features on the same flank.
It would certainly be harsh to drop the wide man considering how influential he has been at points over the last 14 months especially, and it means that Bilic should steer clear of bringing Walcott to east London.
Bilic’s attacking conundrum
One of Bilic’s biggest issues this season has been finding a formation or system that can incorporate Michail Antonio, Andy Carroll and summer arrivals Javier Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic in it, and the former three only all started in the win against Swansea last weekend because the latter missed out through illness.
The previous week, Carroll started on the substitutes’ bench before replacing the injured Antonio in the first half, and right now it appears as though the old-fashioned 4-4-2 is the only suitable system.
With the Croatian boss already struggling to implement that quartet, it would probably be a mistake to target a player like Walcott who would be expecting to start every game for the Irons because of his previous reputation.
Price tag
During the summer Everton were linked with a £30m move for Walcott by The Mirror, and if that is the price that it will take to bring him to the London Stadium during the January transfer window then it could put the Irons off.
Their current club-record fee is the £20m – which could rise to £25m with add-ons – that they paid to sign Marko Arnautovic from Stoke City during the summer.
While they were willing to break that for Sporting Lisbon’s William Carvalho, it remains to be seen whether they would do the same for the Arsenal man considering he turns 29 years of age in March and has featured for just 46 minutes in the Premier League so far this season.
Do you agree, Irons fans? Let us know below.