Arsenal are plotting to tie down forward Theo Walcott to a new deal that will keep him at the Emirates for the next five seasons.
Walcott signed a three-and-a-half-year contract two winters ago, is in the final 18 months of the contract.
With him approaching the final year of his contract In the summer, the Gunners are adamant to tie down the England International to a new deal.
Arsene Wenger wants to avoid the drama of 2013, when the 25-year-old was subject of rife speculation, with his contract due to expire in the subsequent summer.
But the former Southampton forward; along with a quintet of compatriots in Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kieran Gibbs, Aaron Ramsey and Carl Jenkinson, eventually penned a new deal worth £100,000-a-week, making him the club’s highest-paid player back then.
Just 25, Wenger sees Walcott as the key man in Gunners’ future, and is determined that the Englishman should stay.
Walcott ruptured his cruciate knee ligament in his sides’ 2-0 FA Cup third round triumph over Tottenham in January last year, that saw him consequently miss the rest of the season as well as the World Cup. Although he made his return in November against Burnley, Walcott didn’t seem fully fit, and damaged his groin during an International training session with England.
Walcott now looks fully fit and sharp, as he demonstrated by scoring the first goal in Arsenal’s 3-2 win at Brighton in the FA Cup.
With both Danny Welbeck and Alexis Sanchez casualties, the 25-year-old will stake his claim later today in Gunners’ Premier League encounter against Aston Villa in the duo’s absence.
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