Kop go for Theo! Rodgers tells Liverpool to launch £8m bid for contract rebel Walcott

Liverpool are poised to launch an £8million bid to prise Theo Walcott from Arsenal in January.



The England forward is out of contract in the summer and Arsenal are trying to convince him to sign a new deal before Christmas.



The 23-year-old has rejected a five-year contract worth £75,000 a week, saying he wants to switch from the wing to a central striking role and also play more regularly.



Wrangles: Theo Walcott is in fine form for Arsenal but has not agreed a new deal

Saving the day: Walcott scores Arsenal's fourth goal in the comeback at Reading

Stats add up for Theo The leading Arsenal goalscorers in all competitions since start of 2011/12 Goals (all comps)

Robin van Persie 37

Theo Walcott 18

Gervinho 9

Mikel Arteta 7

Yossi Benayoun 6

Thomas Vermaelen 6

Laurent Koscielny 5

Alex Oxlade-

Chamberlain 5

Lukas Podolski 4

Aaron Ramsey 4

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is ready to offer both those things. He wanted to sign Walcott in the summer and will revive his efforts ahead of the January window.



Rodgers, who is desperately short of strikers after loaning Andy Carroll to West Ham and losing Fabio Borini to a broken foot, bemoaned his small squad following Liverpool’s Capital One Cup defeat by Swansea.



He wants to sign two forwards with Walcott his main target to share the goalscoring burden with Luis Suarez. And Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admitted on Thursday that he may be forced to sell if Walcott fails to agree a new deal.



He said: ‘I wouldn’t like to (sell Walcott). I’ve not even thought about that, because at the moment I think we will still manage to make a deal with him.



'But there is urgency. How much I don’t know, but there is urgency. We want to sort it out before Christmas, one way or the other.’



Hands off: Brendan Rodgers will have to work to get Walcott from Arsene Wenger



Walcott has started just three games this season but scored a hat-trick in Arsenal’s 7-5 win over Reading in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday. He is their top scorer with seven goals.

Wenger added: ‘I always said it is important that he plays in the right position and that certainly would be through the middle in the future. He showed that again on Tuesday night.



‘The positions on the flanks are changing - you need to do a lot of defending and he should be dedicated more to offensive work.



‘It’s better (for Walcott to express his views) in private. I have always come out publicly and said that I see him in the future through the middle as well.



‘He loves to score goals. He has good pace, makes excellent, intelligent runs, and what has changed with Theo is he’s become a very good finisher.

‘Take, for example, his first goal the other night at Reading. It was a real finisher’s goal.

Burden: Luis Suarez is Liverpool's only fit and firing striker

‘In our team, we have freedom of movement. Nobody is handcuffed. When we have the ball, we have a lot of freedom to move. It’s important to know where we go, but I think Theo has learned a lot on that.’



Walcott, who has 28 England caps, joined Arsenal from Southampton, aged 16, for £12.5m in 2006.

