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Overview
Theo Walcott has made a permanent move back to Southampton. Walcott spent most of last season at Southampton on loan from Everton. Walcott’s career comes full circle with his return to the Saints where he debuted as a 16 year old in 2005. His performances caught the eye of Arsenal where he spent the bulk of his career (12 years), before playing with Everton from 2018 until last season’s transfer. He has been capped 47 times for England.
While this move adds some depth to the Southampton squad, to me it’s for the fans and emotions. Walcott’s career has had its ups and downs. At his best, his speed and craftiness caused lots of problems for defenders and teams. But his injuries and lack of consistent finishing and crossing have plagued his career. His highest scoring season was with Arsenal in 2012-13 with 14 goals. He scored 10 goals in 2016-17, but has not reached double digits since.
Last season for the Saints, Walcott appeared in 21 games, 20 of those being starts. He scored three goals and added three assists for the season.
Fantasy implications
While this is a good move for some depth and a spark from time to time for Southampton, I don’t think Walcott has a big upside as a fantasy player this season. It is possible that this sparks some life into Walcott, and he certainly has moments, but those moments are often unpredictable and fewer and farther between.
In FPL, Walcott is priced at $6. A year ago he earned a grand total of 76 points across his 21 appearances. There are a plethora of players who scored significantly more last year for the same price (or less), and are guaranteed starters.
In Fantrax NMA-11 he’s priced at $6.32. With only four games over 10 fantasy points a year ago and an average of 5.41 points per game, he again would not be high on my list. There simply are better options at that price. I am going to assume his price will decrease some, so he could offer some value in a good matchup as a differential pick, but beyond that I don’t have much interest.
What are your thoughts on the Walcott signing? Will he have an impact on the field or on the fantasy scoresheet? Please share your analysis in the comments!
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