Walcott, playing in his favoured position of central striker, scored his side’s fifth goal after Lukas Podolski had opened the scoring and Santi Cazorla added another three. Wenger made it clear he had not given up on the 23-year-old.
“He has become a top player at Arsenal,” said Wenger. “I hope that when he considers his future he will consider that this is the best place for him and he will sign for us. I do not want to go into details but I will say that our desire is clear and he knows that. Hopefully he can get to a happy end with that.”
The victory was the perfect response to the criticism that had come Wenger’s way following last week’s League Cup quarter-final exit at League Two side Bradford.
Ferguson in no mood for January transfers
Meanwhile, Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson has made it clear that there is no value in the January transfer window and has ruled out any new signings in the new year.
Ferguson has generally been averse to any winter business, although Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic arrived in 2006 and since then keeper Anders Lindegaard was the only high-profile Christmas signing (2011). According to Sky Sports, Ferguson is content with his current squad and has no plans to recruit soon.
“The January transfer market has never been the best market and that has proved itself over the years,” said Ferguson. “You get very few big transfers – all the big transfers are done in the summer.”
One acquisition during the summer that continues to delight Ferguson is striker Robin van Persie.
“There is a maturity about him (van Persie). He’s an established international and his profile suited us perfectly.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 19th, 2012.
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