Monday 6 June 2016

Two Words on Walcott to West Ham



The rumour mill is in full flight with a variety of half-baked and speculative claims of transfer deals in the making. Theo Walcott to West Ham? At first airing it sounds half plausible, but after the briefest of analysis has to be rejected as nonsense.

No doubt many Hammers fans would love to see Walcott decommissioned from the Arsenal set up as he has enjoyed disproportionate success against West Ham over the years. However, these days Walcott would struggle to get into Bilic's first team. Although he has repeatedly sought a central striking role, his conversion rate is simply too low to justify such a berth at a top club.

After eleven seasons in the Premiership, Walcott has only once made double figures for goals scored - back in 2012 when Arsene Wenger switched him from his usual position on the right wing to take up the central role.

However, this was only a lukewarm success and Walcott did not kick on to become the sort of clinical finisher that top sides demand. Overall, Walcott's strike rate in the top flight is less than one goal every four games - hardly breath taking stuff! Also, with his current wages at £140k per week, his arrival could unsettle some of our existing squad who are on considerably lower wages. 

In terms of the right-sided role, two words sum up his chances - Michail Antonio! Having established that Antonio is not a right back, and with the Summer to find a top quality replacement for the disappointing Karl Jenkinson, Antonio will surely be given the right wing position next term.

With a healthy goal tally (almost one in every three games) and an impressive capacity to shake up opposition defences, Antonio will hardly be quaking in his boots at the prospect of Walcott arriving. Also, unlike Walcott, Antonio has an impressive presence at set pieces.

Finally, £25 million has been quoted - quite a lot for an impact substitute methinks!

 

4 comments:

  1. You don't have half as good player as Theo Walcott (except for Payet). You should pray that Bilic signs him.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lanzini, Noble, Sakho, Valencia are all miles better that Theo. Westham are more than just one player and I see them shocking a few teams yet again. And just remind me how many goals did Westham score past Arsenal this season? They only just managed a draw by having blatant goal disallowed scored by Lanzini.

    ReplyDelete
  3. we do need or want Walcott. He is an over rated luxury who is lazy , always injured, and thinks he is better than he really is . Antonio is so much better ans he has the benefit of not being one of the asshole b-- boys .

    ReplyDelete

Feel free to comment - bad language is strictly forbidden and please refrain from any nasty 'isms'