With 17 points from 15 games this season, Mauricio Pellegrino has made a decent start to the season at Southampton. However, they have won just one of their last six games and need to pick up some form, entering the busiest part of the season. The manager will also be aware of the shortcomings in the squad and will be ready to add some quality to the first team, come the January transfer window.
This has seen the club linked with some of the finest stars in Europe but one player that Pellegrino now wants to go all in for is Arsenal misfit Theo Walcott.
The 28 year is a product of the academy at St Mary’s, where he made his first senior appearance for the club in 2005. After impressing in his first year in the first team, Walcott was picked up Arsenal, as a teenager and ever since, he has cemented a place in the first team, acting as one of their biggest weapons, in many games over the years.
He has 393 outings at the Emirates across all competitions, where he has scored 107 goals, picking up 75 assists. He has won the FA Cup thrice in his time at Arsenal and has also represented England, on 47 occasions, picking up eight goals. However, he has lost his place in the first team this season under Arsene Wenger, and reports today claim that Arsenal are ready to sell him in January.
With the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil expected to quit the club in the next couple of transfer windows, Wenger wants to add star players to his lineup and is reportedly ready to off-load Walcott in January, to raise some funds. So should Southampton lure him back to Hampshire?
The Saints have scored just 15 goals this season in 15 games, less than all the clubs above them in the points table except Burnley and it is clear that they need to add some quality to their attack, come January. They are looking at a few exciting names but Walcott probably represents their best option.
Having graduated from the St Mary’s, Walcott should take no time to adjust to the conditions at the club and his experience in England is sure to turn him into a star player for Southampton.
Pellegrino’s men do not have too much width in their attack, with Nathan Redmond the only outright winger in the first team. Dusan Tadic and Sofiane Boufal are currently playing as wingers regularly for the club and that needs to change, as a winger, with pace and goals in his game, can take the club a long way.
Walcott may not be at his best anymore but at just 28, he can yet produce his best game and Pellegrino will hope that a move back to the St Mary’s is what will help him get there. He is also a transfer target for David Moyes at West Ham, but do you think Southampton should go all in for him?
