WALC IN
Theo Walcott joins Everton from Arsenal for £20m on three-and-a-half-year contract
Striker, 28, leaves Arsenal after over 11 years of service to sign for Sam Allardyce at Goodison Park
THEO WALCOTT has completed a £20million move to Everton.
Walcott leaves Arsenal after over 11 years of service and signed a three-and-a-half-year contract worth around £120,000 a week.
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Arsenal's longest-serving player aims to relaunch his faltering career after 12 years at the Emirates.
And he says he joined the Toffees to WIN TROPHIES - having lifted just two under Arsene Wenger.
He said: “I’m very ambitious and I’ve come here because I want the club to push to the next level.
“And with the players that have come in, I feel like the next level can be reached. I’m very excited to be starting a new chapter and I felt this was the right place for me to be.
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“The manager is very ambitious and I feel like the club is going in the right direction.
“Everton is a club with a great history. The fans are always passionate, they’re great and I always used to find it very tough playing here.
“The club has won trophies but I want them to win trophies now. The manager is very hungry and it’s just what I need. I’ve had a couple of chats with him and straightaway I felt that hunger and that desire that he wanted from me. I need that and I wanted that.
“The fact there’s a new stadium going to be developing in the next few years, it’s exciting times for Everton."
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England ace Walcott, 28, last night passed his medical and negotiated the final details of a long-term contract.
And he wants to prove he still has plenty to offer after nine months without a Premier League start.
He added: “I’m dead excited and I just want to do what I do best which is playing football and expressing myself because I’m excited again, I really am.
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Walcott has left Arsenal tom sign for Sam Allardyce at Everton“I do really believe that I’m going to give it my all, which is what I always have done, and this place is going to get even more out of me.
“There’s something about this move which I’ve just felt good about.
“It felt like it was time for me to move on [from Arsenal]. It was sad but it’s exciting at the same time and I want to reignite my career and push Everton to win things as they have done before.
“I want to be part of something and I feel like this place will offer me that.”
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Goodison boss Sam Allardyce hopes Walcott and £27m Cenk Tosun can bring much-needed pace and goal threat to his side.
Walcott, who joined for £12m from Southampton in 2006, made 397 appearances for Arsenal and scored 108 times.
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He failed to win the title for the Gunners but won the FA Cup twice with triumphs over Aston Villa and Chelsea.
Walcott was their second-top scorer last season with 19 goals despite starting fewer than half of their games.
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