Theo Walcott made his debut for Everton against West Brom on Saturday, this is the ex-Arsenal forward’s first start of the season. Walcott officially completed his transfer to Everton worth a reported £20 million on Wednesday.
Walcott has agreed a deal to stay at Everton until 2021, he is Sam Allardyce’s second signing in the January transfer window following the £27 million transfer of Cenk Tosun from Besiktas, who also started for the Toffees.
An early goal in the first half for West Brom left Everton trailing behind, as Jay Rodriguez buried the ball in the left corner less than 10 minutes after kick-off.
Walcott had a fairly successful debut at Goodison Park picking up an assist in the 70th minute, heading the ball to Oumar Niasse who scored Everton’s equaliser after only being on the field for 57 seconds.
The 28-year-old left Arsenal after 12 years at the club, but with no starts this season and the World Cup looming the move came as no surprise. Walcott has not played for England since 2016 in a friendly against Spain, but the player has collected 42 caps for his country in total.
Walcott has scored a total of 108 goals in his 397 appearances for Arsenal.
The forward addressed his departure from the North London club in a heartfelt message on his social media thanking the supporters, fellow teammates and staff of the club, stating: ‘I feel sad to leave but also excited for a new challenge’.
Speaking after the 1-1 draw, as reported by the Guardian, manager Allardyce praised the impact that the winger can have on the squad.
Last week I said we have not got a lot of legs in the team and we need to be quicker. We’ve increased that with Theo [Walcott] and Yannick [Bolasie] when he gets back to full fitness but in midfield you have to be able to cover the ground.
