Arsene Wenger has put contract rebel, Theo Walcott, under further pressure, as he insisted that the England international, should repay the club’s faith in him.
The Arsenal manager believes that the club deserves to keep its maturing youngsters, after they spent a lot of time building them up and urged Walcott to follow fellow British players like Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who have all extended their contracts.
“I believe what is important to keep the young players is that at some stage I have stood up for them,” Wenger said. “It is easier to take a player of 25 and put him in the team. You know what you are getting. If you put them in at 17 or 18, you have to stand up for them. There is a risk you will lose games while they are learning their job.
“Once you have produced them, you want to say; ‘Okay, let’s stay together and win together’. Somewhere along the line they need to give back to the club what the club has given to them.
“If a guy gets to 30, you can understand it is his last contract and if he feels he wants a change, I can understand that. This is a more sensitive age, but basically it is a reward for our policy.
“Robin [van Persie] was 29 [when he left]. Theo is 23. I believe it is important we keep him. I don’t want to compare it but it would be a big loss for us. I want him to stay and I have been consistent on that.
“With Theo, I have always believed that he would sign a new contract. He has always looked to me like he is an Arsenal man and hopefully it can be resolved.”
It is believed that Walcott is asking for a deal that is worth 100,000 a week and Wenger says Arsenal can afford to pay Walcott what he wants and he will not be sold in January.
“I won’t sell him in January, that is for sure, because my gut feeling is that he belongs to this club and I am always convinced he will stay,” Wenger said. “I am happy to pay Theo the money he deserves. But I feel as well that I bought him and spent a lot of money on him.
“You never fix yourself a limit on financial restrictions. I believe the board will follow my recommendation if possible. We have a wage bill that has to be respected. When we go higher than expected, I ask the board to do it and most of the time they follow my demands.”
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