Arsene Wenger has confirmed that he will decide if Theo Walcott wants to stay at Arsenal.
The manager is weighing up whether to recommend an £85,000-a-week deal to his board that would break the impasse in contract talks and see the England attacker sign for another four years.
Wenger, whose team take on Swansea in the FA Cup today, has almost unprecedented power as a manager at a club.
And he admits the current wage structure at Arsenal, which many fans feel undervalues their top stars even though the £143million the salary bill is the fourth highest in the Premier League, is directed by him.
Though Arsenal executive Dick Law would conduct negotiations with Walcott’s representatives, he acts on Wenger’s recommendations on salaries. The manager is given a wages budget by the board, but then it is up to him how high or low the salaries are for individual players.
Wenger added: “I don’t know how it works at other clubs. But it’s not only me: it’s in cooperation with the board. When I want to go far [in setting a higher salary for a player], I ask the authorisation of the board.”
No substantial talks on Walcott’s contract were held last week other than the usual courtesy conversation between Law and Walcott’s representatives, so the issue is no closer to resolution. But both parties hope this coming week will be more productive with detailed discussions.
Not losing Walcott is Wenger’s priority now, since the player has scored 14 goals after starting the season isolated and on the bench, when Arsenal attempted to pressure him into signing a £75,000-a-week contract.
Walcott held firm and might have paid for it by starting the season outside the starting XI. But he has proved his worth since then and the club now realise it would be a public relations disaster to lose him in the wake of the recent departures of Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy and Alex Song. - Daily Mail