Walcott is gunner go nowhere, declares Wenger

ARSENE WENGER has no intention of letting Theo Walcott or any other of his Arsenal youngsters out on loan.

The Gunners — who host Newcastle in the fourth round of the FA Cup today — are still smarting from the midweek mauling at arch-rivals Tottenham, as Juande Ramos’ men booked their place in the Carling Cup final at Wembley after a resounding 5-1 win.

Walcott started at White Hart Lane from a central attacking role, having netted an equaliser in the first leg.

However, the England Under-21 international produced only an average display.

Wenger accepts Walcott, who turns 19 in March, is not where he expected to be after two years with Arsenal — but maintains “he will get there”.

There have been suggestions the Arsenal manager could now be ready to let Walcott, who has battled back to match fitness following a shoulder problem, spend some time away from Emirates Stadium, with Liverpool and Stoke both said to be keen on a loan deal.

However, the Arsenal manager maintains he needs all of his squad as they enter a crucial phase of the season — especially given Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue and Alex Song are all on Africa Cup of Nations duty while striker Robin van Persie remains sidelined.

“No, because we are very short,” said Wenger when asked whether anyone would be allowed to go on loan following the Carling Cup exit.

Wenger maintains the Carling Cup experience, which last year took his young side to the final, was part of the learning process, and accepts those youngsters may lack “maturity” in such situations.

However, Wenger insists he made the right decision not to gamble with the fitness of senior men. He said: “My focus is on different targets now — It was never the main focus. Our main targets are the championship and the Champions League. We prioritise that from now.”

Tuesday night’s match was overshadowed somewhat by an angry confrontation between Arsenal strikers Emmanuel Adebayor and Nicklas Bendtner during the closing stages.

Adebayor has issued an apology, while Arsenal appear to have laid down their own sanctions.

Wenger said: “There is always action taken when it is needed.”

The Arsenal manager added: “You want to deal with that internally, but disagreements are part of the game.

“Every single manager will be surprised what has been made of that story, but that is part of being at Arsenal. We want to know what kind of incident happened, but we will deal with this without any problem.”

Wenger is likely to again rotate his squad for what will be the first of two visits in the space of four days by a rejuvenated Newcastle.

“We want to do well in the FA Cup. We want to bounce back after the disappointment of Tuesday,” he said. “When I will be in a situation where I have to choose between the FA Cup, the championship or the Champions League, I will prioritise the two other competitions.

“At the moment, the FA Cup is the next game, and we want to win the next game.”