The sprinter Richard Kilty is willing to bet £30,000 he can beat the Arsenal pair Héctor Bellerín and Theo Walcott in a race.

According to reports, right-back Bellerín is the fastest man at Arsenal over 40 metres, having beaten Walcott’s record. The reports claim he clocked 4.42sec, quicker than Usain Bolt reached the 40m mark in his world record run over 100m.

But Kilty, who added the European 60m crown to his world title in Prague last month, said there was no chance Bellerin was that quick.

The 25-year-old said on Twitter: “Media claiming @HectorBellerin can run 4.42 over 40m. Absolutely no way. Are these journalists complete morons! I will put £30,000 on the line to race @HectorBellerin & @theowalcott any sprint distance, any time, any place, anywhere. The race will be over very quick. So if they put their money down I will gladly show everyone they can not sprint as fast as the media claim.”

Kilty’s comments followed an online blog from the former sprinter Craig Pickering, who was part of the British quartet who won 4x100m relay bronze at the 2007 world championships. Pickering, who also competed for Great Britain in bobsleigh at last year’s Winter Olympics wrote a post enititled ‘Speed & footballers’ on his personal website that questioned the newspaper reports.

“Let’s examine the logical fallacy of this headline/story,” he wrote. “Is it likely that a young footballer, who has to practise a wide range of skills, including actually kicking a football, as well as tactical and other fitness demands, could be faster than someone whose job it is to just focus on covering distances of 200m or less in as short a time as possible?

“That someone with almost perfect genetics, who spends 6 days per week honing his unbelievable talent, would be beaten over 40m by someone who does a bit of sprint training? That the fastest person by almost a country mile to ever walk this planet is not as good at HIS job as a Spanish under-21 international footballer?

“Clearly, it’s stupid.”