In the most unsurprising transfer of the month, Southampton’s Theo Walcott has signed for Arsenal for £5million, possibly going up to as much as £12million based on appearances and whether the 16 year old fulfills his potential as a world class footballer.

As Theo has really only played a handful of senior games for Southampton, his departure is not that gut wrenching. He isn’t a legend or in the league of a Le Tissier – indeed other than a couple of superb goals in the first team, coupled with outstanding youth team performances he really hasn’t had that much time to endear himself to the masses at St Mary’s and join the ranks of Ball, Channon, Osgood and Keegan. No one gets near Le Tiss!

For Saints’ Fans though the news is yet another body blow following last season’s relegation and the side’s steady slide down the table. With promotion and even the play-offs looking like pipe dreams there’s not much to cheer about and the loss of Walcott has added to the misery.

With rumours abound that more players will depart before the end of the transfer window it does seem that things are going to get much worse before they get better – if indeed they can get better. Two words to worry the Southampton board should be “Nottingham Forest” – look what has happened to them!

As for Theo – it’ll be interesting to see where his career goes from here. Will he play for the Arsenal first team this season or even next season? Some bookies are offering odds on him playing for England and even playing in the World Cup! Saints’ fans will want to wish him all the best, but would have preferred he’d stuck around a bit longer – at least we’d have something to cheer about – although some might argue that at least we still have Nathan Dyer, and long term he could turn out to be the better of the two players. 

The only good news Southampton wise was that Harry Redknapp’s return to Fratton Park is to be investigated as Portsmouth “have been charged with a breach of ‘approach rules’ by the Premier League”. At least it takes the attention away from the mess he left behind down the M27.

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