Where there's smoke: Walcott offered Liverpool contract?

It seems like sometimes, outside the Alexis/Özil realm, there is not much that Arsenal fans agree on these days as far as player evaluations go. Giroud’s great! No, he’s just average! Coquelin’s fantastic! No, he’s mostly just a warm body! That sort of thing.

The one thing a lot of Arsenal fans agree on, though, is the frustrating case of Theo Walcott. He’s been at Arsenal for ten years now, after starting his senior career at Southampton, and almost every one of those ten years has been prefaced with “will this be the year?”

The short answer so far is no, it won’t. He is by no means a bad player; he just hasn’t lived up to the potential that we all believe he has, and it’s getting to the point where some are starting to think he never will, and that he’s reached a plateau in his career.

One person who doesn’t think that, if unsourced rumors are to be believed, is Jürgen Klopp. The Liverpool manager is - and again, this is a rumor with no actual substance at this point, so caveat emptor - prepared to pay £25 million for four years of service from Mr. Walcott.

Honestly, if I’m Arsene, I take that deal in a heartbeat, assuming it's real. It’s good money for a player who probably needs a fresh start somewhere else in order to unlock his potential, and it would give Arsenal that much more incentive - and money - to go out and improve their forward/attacking midfield corps.

Theo’s been a solid Arsenal player, but there comes a time when “solid” isn’t quite enough. I think Theo’s career is at that point, and while I do like him as a player, I’d be OK if he went elsewhere to continue that career.