THEO WALCOTT believes he knows the real reason Mikel Arteta hired pickpockets to steal his players’ phones.
The Arsenal boss shocked fans after recruiting a team of slight of hand artists for a team dinner with his squad.
Gunners stars had valuable items including phones and watches pinched whilst the ate by Arteta’s secret guests.
At the end of the meal, he then used the scenario to teach his players the importance of being ready, alert and prepared at all times.
However, Walcott has now revealed the real reason behind Arteta’s stunt.
The former Arsenal winger told the Daily Mail: “Well, it gets you lot talking, doesn’t it.
“It gets us distracted from the actual football side of things and it gets us talking about something completely different and out of the ordinary.
“That’s what Mikel does. He gets people to think in a different way. So now people are always going to be alert in that dressing room.
“That’s the message he sent. That was just a pure sort of exercise, and it worked, but now you go into everyday work and life alert.”
Arteta’s stunt also prompted a blunt response from Roy Keane after hearing about the team dinner.
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The former Manchester United captain sarcastically said: “Oh, they (Arsenal) will definitely win the league this year after that.”
Keane did give Arteta credit, though, going on to add: “No, it’s nice to do something like that… Thinking outside the box.”
Arteta is hoping his Arsenal side can go one better this season after back-to-back second place finishes in the Premier League.
The Gunners even took the title race to the final day last term before being pipped by Manchester City.
They started the new campaign with a win on Saturday, though, beating Wolves thanks to goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka.
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Should an agreement be reached, it could resurrect the sale of Conor Gallagher to the Spanish giants.
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