With reports circulating that Arsenal are weighing up a move that would see Raheem Sterling move to the Emirates this summer and Theo Walcott going in the opposite direction as part of the deal, www.oulala.com took a look at the pair since the beginning of last season to see which team would benefit the most from such a move.
The first glaring observation is Walcott’s lack of games during the last two seasons with Sterling making almost three times as many appearances due to the Arsenal player’s continued injury problems.
As the appearance figures of the duo are unbalanced, the focus towards their statistical performances was made via a per game basis.
From a creativity point of view it is Sterling that excels in every department. The 20-year-old leads Walcott for successful passes (24.11 to 11.4), key passes (1.68 to 0.86) and chances created per game (1.88 to 1.01). Sterling also takes assists with 0.20 per game to Walcott’s 0.16.
Shifting the attention to goal scoring, Walcott takes over. The 26-year-old leads Sterling for shot accuracy (65% to 61.5%) and goals scored per game (0.32 to 0.24).
The Arsenal man also impresses for pass completion with 82% to Sterling’s slightly lower 81%. Whereas the Liverpool winger unsurprisingly takes the plaudits for both successful dribbles (58.9% to 30%) and fouls provoked per game (2.23 to 0.33).
Such a deal could well benefit all involved. Walcott’s Arsenal career has never really taken off as expected since his move from Southampton and a fresh challenge could be exactly what he needs. Arsenal would gain from Sterling’s age while Liverpool would not only profit heavily in an expected player plus cash deal due to Sterling’s current high valuation, they’d also be getting a readymade replacement in the form of Walcott.
With Arsenal hosting Liverpool this weekend it is likely that Arsene Wenger and Brendan Rodgers will be keeping a close eye on the pair should such a deal gather pace over the summer.
Come on, man; this is clearly the master plan brainwave of Team sterling/his agent-pimp, all of it designed to make the Scouser money men put their dollars on the table. He and his bunch of sycophant leeches can do one – using us as a bargaining chip – cnuts.
As for Theo; he needs to look at what he wants and be realistic about what he can get. He doesn’t owe us anything like the greedy badger overbite bustard, but ought to remember the home support getting behind him on one of his inefficient days…