Arsenal Transfer News: Latest on Theo Walcott, David Ospina Rumours

Arsenal and Theo Walcott have reportedly agreed to a new four-year contract, ensuring the forward won't be leaving the club anytime soon.

The 26-year-old had just one season left on his contract, and according to Steve Stammers of the Daily Mirror, the Gunners made sure there would be no complications by presenting the England international with a new deal before the 2015-16 campaign begins:

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The deal will keep Walcott at the Emirates until 2019 and put his salary in the £100,000 a week bracket and make him one of the club’s highest earners.

Arsenal will officially confirm the new contract in the next two weeks—certainly before the start of the Premier League season when they play West Ham at home.

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Walcott returned to the pitch during the second half of the 2014-15 season after suffering a gruesome knee injury in January 2014, which kept him out of the 2014 World Cup. Once he regained his form, the goals started to follow.

As reported by Sky Sports (via Fox Sports), Walcott recently confirmed he was talking to the club about a new deal, and he sounded eager to kick off the new campaign:

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My agent has talked to the club, I enjoy playing for this club so I am just letting them crack on with things and I'll continue playing football.

We'll just play the waiting game and see what happens but I'm sure it won't be long. This squad, for me, is one of the best I've been involved in. I want to be part of that.

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While injuries have been an issue for Walcott, who has missed a significant amount of matches in the past several years, demonstrated by Transfermarkt, there's no denying he's one of the Gunners' top attacking options when healthy.

This statistic from WhoScored.com sums up his impact on the squad quite well:

A move away from the club never seemed likely, but things often get a bit tricky when a player enters the final year of his contract. Another untimely injury or massive loss of form could have changed the way the player or the club looked at their ongoing relationship, so getting this deal done in a hurry was vital.

David Ospina Set for Emirates Stay

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Walcott isn't the only player who appears set to stay with the Gunners. According to Stammers, goalkeeper David Ospina has also decided against leaving north London after he was told by manager Arsene Wenger there will be plenty of minutes for him behind expected starter Petr Cech.

The former Chelsea star is the club's biggest arrival of the summer transfer window, all but ending the conundrum in goal for the Gunners. Both Ospina and Wojciech Szczesny struggled in 2014-15, and in order to mount a real title challenge in the Premier League, some consistency between the sticks was sorely needed.

Cech's arrival raised questions regarding the future of Ospina, but it now appears those have been resolved:

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Wenger explained to Ospina that he still rates him highly and gave him assurances that, with Arsenal competing in the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Capital One Cup, he will be given adequate opportunities to play first team football.

It was the same kind of pledge that Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho gave to Asmir Begovic when he persuaded the Bosnia international to move from an automatic first choice position at Stoke.

Wenger was clearly encouraged by the meeting because Arsenal are to let Szczesny join Roma on loan.

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The news continues a familiar pattern at the Emirates Stadium this summer, with the club seemingly more focused on cleaning house and ensuring their current stars are happy than investing heavily in the transfer market.

The Gunners ended the 2014-15 season in strong form and have so far impressed during pre-season. There's every reason to believe the current options have what it takes to make a strong push for silverware in 2015-16. Bleacher Report's Sam Tighe also noted the lack of activity on the open market:

Arsenal still have a number of question marks in key areas, most notably depth in central midfield and at the striker position. But there's still more than a month left of the transfer window, so Wenger has plenty of time to make sure the squad is ready to tackle the 2015-16 season.

Keeping hold of Walcott and Ospina is a good start, and with some of the club's younger players, such as Alex Iwobi, showing their worth in pre-season, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the team's chances of making a big impact this season.

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