Southampton are gearing up to host Arsenal at St Mary’s on Sunday and club officials might use it as an opportunity to court former winger Theo Walcott. The pacey winger looked a world beater in the making as a youngster at the club and many were sad to see him snapped up by the Gunners. He initially looked as though he would deliver on his promise, but Walcott’s career has since stagnated, regressed and finally nosedived. He has not started a Premiership game for Arsenal all season and has dropped out of the England squad ahead of the World Cup. He must be itching for an escape route, but is Walcott the sort of playing Southampton should be chasing?
The club has earned a fantastic reputation as a breeding ground for superstars, which is a blessing and a curse. Plenty of promising youngsters are lured to Southampton, but leave all too quickly as they seek glory and a bumper pay packet elsewhere. Imagine being able to call upon Gareth Bale, Sadio Mane, Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain et al this season. Walcott would not get anywhere near the team, they would blow Arsenal away and could challenge for the title. Yet losing promising stars to bigger clubs is part and parcel of the modern game and Southampton have benefited financially from their endeavours, stabilising a club that went into administration as recently as 2009 and establishing themselves as Premiership stalwarts. They have always rolled with the punches in recent years and come back stronger each time, with a new crop of stars spurring them onto greater heights. But they have never brought back anyone that sought greener pastures.
Re-signing Walcott seems to fly in the face of the club’s ethos, its penchant for developing youth and development. But it could be a decent move, provided his wage demands are not too high. Walcott may have endured a tough few years and he may not be good enough to usurp players like Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil in the Arsenal team, or indeed Gareth Bale and Sadio Mane in the fantasy Southampton side, but he could have plenty to offer a current Saints set up that is in desperate need of a bit of pace and spark going forwards.
Southampton have been accused of displaying a negative approach this season, not least by an animated, arm-flapping, Nathan Redmond-berating Pep Guardiola. They seem to favour a solid defensive base and trying to nick goals and grind out narrow victories. Only once this season have they won by more than a single goal, and that was against a demoralised Everton. They have drawn five and lost six out of 15 matches, and only scored a single goal per game. That is simply not good enough if they hope to finish in the top half of the table once more.
It is all well and good erring on the side of caution at the back, but if you are to make a real success of it you need players that can break at pace and hit teams on the counterattack. Walcott may not be the most prolific finisher in the league, but he undeniably has bags of pace and can be a real threat when playing on the shoulder of the last man. Check a review of William Hill to find the best odds and you will see that Southampton are huge underdogs in a home fixture against an Arsenal side that has won just twice in seven away games this season. St Mary’s is not a fortress and it is hard to frighten teams if you lack pace and spark going forwards. If they can get Walcott on the cheap in January, it could be a good signing – provided his wage demands are not too exorbitant – as he could help Southampton stretch teams and score more goals. He may not have developed into the world-class forward that everyone hoped for, but he could do a good job for a team with aspirations of challenging for a top eight spot.
