Southampton are said to be close to competing the loan signing of Everton forward and former Saints academy graduate Theo Walcott.
The latest update on the deal is that Sky Sports are reportedly the player is currently having his medical ahead of official confirmation later today, whilst the Sun’s Tom Barclay and the Telegraph’s Matt Law confirm a deal has been agreed.
Details of the terms of the move have also been revealed.
Via a report from the Athletic’s Dan Sheldon, Saints will be paying 50% of Walcott’s wages – believed to be £50k of his £100k per week deal – and the agreement will be for a season-long loan.
Sheldon also reveals that Walcott is keen to rejoin Saints. Getting back to playing first-team football and, presumably, to getting back to a club where he is loved make it an obvious choice for the player.
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) October 5, 2020
📰 Theo Walcott is on his way to Southampton for his medical
💰 He has agreed a 1 year loan deal pic.twitter.com/X66QtICg4M
Although Saints fans will be seeing a very different Walcott to the one that left 13 years ago, the move does make sense for the club too – even if he is not a youthful signing in comparison to other arrivals in this transfer window.
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Sofiane Boufal is set to leave later today with a free transfer agreed with French side Angers SCO and Walcott will come in to be one of the options for the attacking-midfield roles in Ralph Hasenhuttl’s 4-2-2-2 system.
He also has the ability to play as a striker if Saints need him to fill in during this season.
At 31, Walcott may not have the pace that he once had. However, he does still possess something significant in this category and that will add something different to other options currently at the club.
Via fbref.com, we can see that Walcott has averaged between two and three shot creating actions – either a pass, dribble or drawing a foul directly before a shot is taken – per game in the last three years at Everton.
He is still a more than capable player and will surely want to give everything he can whilst he is back at the club where it all began for him.