Everton sign Theo Walcott from Arsenal

 

Everton have announced the arrival of Theo Walcott on a three-and-a-half-year deal until the summer of 2021.

 

The Toffees will hand Walcott the No.11 shirt at Goodison Park after agreeing a deal with Arsenal in excess of £20m.

 

Walcott has spent the last 12 years with Arsenal but is now looking forward to the next chapter in his career after falling down the pecking order at the Emirates.

 

"I'm very ambitious and I've come here because I want the club to push to the next level," Walcott told the club's official website. "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. 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 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.

 

"I want to be part of something which he's building and, like I said before, it's a very ambitious club. The fact there's a new stadium going to be developing in the next few years, it's exciting times for Everton Football Club.

 

"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. 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."

 

 

The 28-year-old has only managed 64 minutes of playing time in the Premier League this season and will be looking to make up for lost time with Everton.

 

Walcott hasn't featured for England since November 2016 and will have an outside chance of making Gareth Southgate’s 2018 World Cup squad with a storming second half to the season.

 

No player has missed more clear-cut goalscoring chances than Walcott (5) in the Europa League this season.