Walcott left out of Arsenal's future five

 

Arsenal made a show of announcing new contracts for five of their brightest young talents on Wednesday - but the one who everyone was waiting for was not among them.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Kieran Gibbs and Carl Jenkinson all put pen to paper on bumper five-year deals at Emirates Stadium, as Goal.com had exclusively revealed on Monday.

But Theo Walcott, whose current agreement is set to expire in the summer, has long been at loggerheads with the club over an extension, with his desire to play as a centre-forward proving a serious obstacle.

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Magic Ibrahimovic bamboozles England hopefuls

 

There are few doubts about who was the star of the show in England's 4-2 defeat to Sweden on Wednesday night - the inimitable Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

England had six debutants on show in Leon Osman, Raheem Sterling, Wilfried Zaha, Ryan Shawcross, Steven Caulker and Carl Jenkinson.

But there was little any of them - or indeed Roy Hodgson's more senior players - could do about Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who had already scored twice before completing a hat-trick with a powerful long-range free-kick.

And for his next trick, the Swedish magician rounded off the scoring with a mystifying, looping overhead kick from over 20 yards out which almost defied logic, leaving Hodgson and his charges thoroughly dumbfounded.
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