Theo Walcott has joined Southampton on a season-long loan from Everton and has likely played his final game for us. The 31-year-old’s deal at Goodison Park is up in 2021, so he’ll be out of contract when his stint back at Southampton comes to an end. Unfortunately, we stand to miss out on £33m based on how much went spent in 2018 and how much he’s made in wages.
What went wrong?
Walcott joined from Arsenal in January 2018 and went on to make 85 appearances in all competitions, scoring 11 goals with nine assists. He hasn’t represented the England national team during his time at Everton and has only scored twice in the Premier League since October 2019.
- 2017/18 (Premier League): 14 appearances, 3 goals, 3 assists
- 2018/19 (Premier League): 37 appearances, 5 goals, 2 assists
- 2019/20 (Premier League): 25 appearances, 2 goals, 3 assists
- 2020/21 (Premier League): 1 appearance, 0 goals, 0 assists
The 31-year-old fell behind Richarlison, James Rodriguez, Anthony Gordon, Alex Iwobi and Bernard under Carlo Ancelotti, so it wasn’t a shock to see him leave. His loan move just ends our hopes of making any money back, however.
Breakdown of the £33m spent on Walcott’s transfer fee and wages
As per the Independent, we paid £20m to sign Walcott from Arsenal and agreed a three-and-a-half-year deal worth £5.2m-a-year/£100k-a-week. We’ve paid the winger £12.8m in wages excluding bonuses, so Walcott has cost us around £33m in total.
We failed to find a suitor willing to pay for his signature over the summer and Walcott’s lofty wage demands proved a stumbling block too, so we’re not going to get any money back. It’s fair to say the 31-year-old hasn’t lived up to his potential at Everton and won’t be remembered too fondly by supporters.
Summary
Walcott struggled for form and playing time in his two years at Everton, so we made the right move to let him go. It’s just bad that we’ve thrown away so much money and can’t cash in before his deal is up. It hurts to have thrown away £33m on a wide-man who hasn’t delivered consistently.
In other news, how will Everton line up with Ben Godfrey and what will he bring to our defence?