England Winger Theo Walcott has completed his £20m move from Arsenal to Everton.
Theo Walcott signed a three and half year deal with Everton after successfully undergoing his medicals. Everton are understood to have matched the winger’s £110,000-a-week wage and met Arsenal’s demands for a player who had 18 months left on his contract at the Emirates Stadium.
“I’m very ambitious and I’ve come here because I want the club to push to the next level,” Walcott said. “And with the players that have come in, I feel like the next level can be reached.
“I’m very excited to be starting a new chapter and I felt this was the right place for me to be. The manager is very ambitious and I feel like the club is going in the right direction … The club has won trophies but I want them to win trophies now. The manager is very hungry and it’s just what I need.”
That manager, Sam Allardyce, said: “With the amount of goals, assists and pace that he brings, it’s a very good acquisition and a lot of shrewd negotiation by the Club in terms of today’s prices. Hopefully, it will prove to be exceptionally good value for money.”
Walcott spent 12 years with Arsenal, scoring 108 goals in 397 appearances, but has struggled for a regular starting role in recent seasons. His last Premier League start came in a 1-0 win against Leicester City on 26 April last year.
The former England international also had an offer from his former club Southampton but was swayed by the prospect of reviving his career on Merseyside under Allardyce. Walcott knows Everton’s management team from England duty, notably assistant manager Sammy Lee, and also worked with Allardyce, the first-team coach Craig Shakespeare and goalkeeping coach Martyn Margetson when the Allardyce took charge of his one game with the national team.
He is the second new arrival at Everton this month following Cenk Tosun’s move from Besiktas for an initial £21m.
Credit: TheGuardian
