Southampton to battle Everton for Theo Walcott as Arsenal accept departure is inevitable

Southampton have made their old boy Theo Walcott a priority in the next two transfer windows, although it is expected that Everton will also compete for the signing of the former England international – either on a permanent deal or a loan.

Walcott will be on the bench for Arsenal’s game today against West Bromwich Albion but there is a general acceptance that his time at the club, where he is the longest serving player, is coming to an end and a departure is inevitable either in the January window or next summer.

Southampton want their former player who left as a 16-year-old prodigy in 2006, and there is a confidence that Walcott also would favour a return to St Mary’s where he remains a popular figure.

After this season, the player has one year left on a £120,000-a-week Arsenal contract and, while Southampton would not be able to pay him those kind of wages, there is a hope that an accommodation could be reached. The highest earner at St Mary’s was previously Virgil van Dijk on £65,000-a-week before his transfer to Liverpool which will go through on Monday.

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Southampton see real untapped potential in Walcott and are confident that they could reignite his career. He is still relatively young – he is not 29 until March – and has looked after himself well. His goals to minutes on the pitch ratio bears comparison with any of his Arsenal team-mates and his experience and status in the game would be useful in Southampton’s squad that has a young English base.

Everton have the capacity to pay the bigger wages and are in the market for a Premier League goalscorer.

Although Walcott has fallen drastically out of favour with Wenger he scored 19 goals last season, the club’s second top goalscorer after Alexis Sanchez and the Englishman’s second best season return of his career at the club.

Wenger has said previously that he will not release first-team squad players on loans in January just in order that they can stake a claim for a place in their national team squads for the World Cup finals. Walcott has been frozen out under Gareth Southgate but remains serious about re-establishing himself as a Premier League regular.

Arsenal are expected to look at their January options after the West Brom game. They have seven games in January including both legs of the EFL Cup semi-final against Chelsea and injuries will also dictate what departures they decide to sanction.