Arsenal: £20 million for Theo Walcott is something that rarely happens

Theo Walcott is reportedly priced at £20 million, with Everton willing to match that valuation. If he is sold for such a figure, it would represent a rare thing for Arsenal: a good sale.

It seems as though Theo Walcott may be nearing an Arsenal exit. The now 28-year-old — he will be 29 by the end of the season — has seen his role reduced significantly in the squad, playing just 50 minutes of Premier League football across five substitute appearances. That, for a player of his standing, is not nearly enough to keep him satisfied.

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And so, the end draws near. Arsene Wenger has, ostensibly, moved on from waiting for Walcott to deliver on his inordinate potential, and the prospective buyers are beginning to circle, smelling the departure of a proven Premier League contributor.

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Per the most recent reports — I am writing this on Wednesday morning –, it is Everton that are front-runners to secure his signature, with a rumoured of £20 million being touted. Southampton, his former club, are another that has been mentioned as a possible destination, with manager Mauricio Pellegrino even admitting that Theo is a player with which much could be done in the Premier League.

Ultimately, for Arsenal, it does not really matter where Walcott goes. As long as it is not a direct rival, which it is unlikely to be, the transfer should be directed by whoever pays the highest price. And the price that is being mentioned, £20 million, does suggest that they will be able to sell fairly close to the peak of the player’s value and that, for the Gunners, is a very rare thing indeed.

In the last five years, these are the players of relative significance that Arsenal have sold, with the fee, per TransferMarkt, alongside them:

2013/14: Gervinho (£7.2 million); Vito Manone (£2.16 million); Marouane Chamakh (£1.08 million); Emmanuel Frimpong (£225,000)

2014/15: Thomas Vermaelen (£17.1 million); Johan Djourou (£2.52 million); Ignasi Miquel (£1.71 million); Thomas Eisfield (£1.35 million); Nicklas Bendtner (Free); Lukasz Fabianski (Free); Bacary Sagna (Free)

2015/16: Lukas Podolski (£2.25 million); Ryo Miyaichi (Free); Abou Diaby (Free)

2016/17: Serge Gnabry (£4.5 million); Wellington Silva (£2.7 million); Tomas Rosicky (Free)

2017/18: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (£34.2 million); Wojciech Szczesny (£10.98 million); Gabriel Paulista (£9.9 million); Kieran Gibbs (£6.75 million); Yaya Sanogo (Free)

Now, how many of those players were sold for a fee that could be considered a good sale for Arsenal? I would suggest maybe three: Ignasi Miquel; Thomas Eisfeld; Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. I would argue that any other player could have been sold for more than what they were.

There are many reasons for that. In some cases, it was mismanagement of contracts. In others, it was failing to sell the player at the right time, waiting too long until their value had passed — Abou Diaby and Tomas Rosicky are prime examples of this. For others, it was simply poor negotiation skill — Arsenal rejected a £10 million offer for Kieran Gibbs in the same summer that they sold him for £6.75 million. I am not here to play the blame game and decipher why such transactions were continually undersold. I am simply pointing out that this has been an ailing issue for this club for many years.

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And this is where a £20 million sale for Walcott would buck the trend. It is a sale that is close to, if not at, the highest value of the player. Walcott has been a faithful and dutiful servant of this club. But if £20 million is on the table, as is perhaps reported, then that is a very a difficult offer to refuse.

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