Arsenal Sign Duo

Arsenal have announced that both Theo Walcott and Santi Cazorla have signed new contracts. It may not be the new players that Arsenal fans are craving right now, but it is an important announcement.

Walcott has signed a 4 year extension to his current deal. With his wages said to be £140,000 per week he becomes one of the top earners at the club. This puts the pressure on him to perform, I firmly believe though if he can stay injury free he will be a great player.

Cazorla gets the rewards for a fantastic season last year with a 2 year extension. He dominated the midfield through the last campaign after being moved into a slightly deeper midfield role. His ability to twist his and turn his way out of trouble, bring the ball forward and produce wonderful passes brought us much success.

So what about a couple of new signings? Well there are certainly plenty of rumours flying around Benzema, Busquets, Llorente, Reus, Lewandowski to name just a few. Unfortunately none of them seem to have much real substance to them. Benzema is looking increasingly like a pipe dream despite cryptic Instagram posts. Real would need to sign at least 1 more striker before they would consider letting him go. Busquets is a similar situation, with Barca currently under a transfer embargo they will not want to lose key players. Llorente I think will turn out to be just a rouse to secure a transfer elsewhere. Signing Reus would be strange considering our already abundance of similar players. The extension of Cazorla’s contract would also seem and odd move if Reus was being signed. I think Bayern would be unlikely to want to part with Lewandowski too, it would take an extremely large offer to prise him away.

All this said though, the news of Arsenal wrapping up these two contact extension may bring some light at the end of the transfer tunnel. Freeing up Arsenal to persue new transfers. Wenger hasn’t ruled out more new arrivals before the window shuts, I just don’t think the media has any clue who those will be yet. It may yet be another bust deadline day.

Walcott’s Central Role

With only 12 months left on Walcott’s current contract Wenger is understandably anxious to tie him into a new one. On Sunday he said that Theo is close to signing, but no agreement has been reached yet. So is this uncertainty delaying Arsenals attempts to sign a new striker?

With Theo not yet having signed a new contract Wenger may be thinking that bringing in another big name striker may not help the situation. Walcott is desperate to show what he can do in a central role, and the arrival of someone like Benzema would surely see his chances in that role limited further. Wenger has said many time that he does not want to lose a player that he believes is entering the prime of his career. So he will probably wait till he gets his signature before doing anything to upset the apple cart.

Theo is a clever guy though and he knows another striker coming in is a strong possibility. He therefore may be waiting till after the window has shut to sign a new contract and see who or if anyone comes in.

I don’t think Wenger will wait that long though if he can bring in another world class striker ie Benzema. Llorente has been strongly linked but he will not improve the squad, and I get the feeling this is just an agent angling for a move rather than real interest. Wenger tends not to sign many players whom are already over 30.

Whatever happens I don’t think we’re likely to see much happening till closer till deadline day. If Benzema is to come Real need a replacement and that has not happened yet. If Walcott signs and Madrid get a new striker then maybe just maybe…