Why On Earth Would We Want "The Next Theo Walcott"?

Every few weeks, Manchester United will be linked with “the next *insert brilliant player’s name here*” in the next transfer window. The deals never materialise and more often than not, the players never fulfil the potential.

The next Ronaldinho, Douglas Costas, was rumoured to be joining United from Gremio and caused a great deal of excitement amongst some reds. But then joined Shakhtar Donetsk last year and hasn’t been heard of much since.

Imagine my disappointment when learning that now we’re being linked to “the next Theo Walcott”, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. What on earth has Walcott done to make United fans excited about signing “the next” one of him?? Yeh, he’s fast and he has the potential to rip sides apart, as he did against Liverpool that one time, but this is his 5th season in the Premiership and he’s hardly set the world alight.

The England Under-18 attacking midfielder, who is the son of former England international Mark Chamberlain, has been mentioned in the rumour mill for some time, being linked to the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, but now our name is being mentioned too. Sky Sports News reckon that we will be putting in an offer of £10m for him in the next 48 hours, along with Liverpool.

Sir Alex was in the stands this week to watch him open the scoring in Southampton’s 6-0 win over Oldham. The press have claimed this is because he was watching Oxlade-Chamberlain but equally likely explanations are the manager was there to watch our next FA Cup opponents as well as watch Ben Amos in action on loan. Three birds with one stone?

He is being used by Southampton on the flanks but the coaching staff believe his pace, strength, touch, awareness and eye for goal mean he will eventually mature in to a central midfielder or a forward who plays just behind the main central striker. Fortunately, it is also reported that the 17-year-old is better than Walcott was when he was at the club.