Thomas Vermaelen feels Theo Walcott is invaluable to Arsenal but accepts there is little his team-mates can do to stop him walking away from the club at the end of the season.

England forward Walcott got to start in his preferred central role at Reading on Monday, where he netted the final goal in a 5-2 win which lifted the Gunners to fifth place and within two points of third in the Premier League.

The 23-year-old’s current deal expires in the summer, with negotiations over an extension at the Emirates Stadium seemingly stalled.

And having seen Robin van Persie leave last summer when he could not agree a new deal, Vermaelen admits no matter how key a player may be, the rest of the squad have to remain focused on the job in hand.

'Of course we want him to stay but that is between the player and the club. I don’t know what is going on behind the scenes – we don’t talk about it because that is going on in football all the time,’ said the Belgium defender.

‘It happened last time with Robin. It’s the job of the board and the club what they are going to do with it so we can’t do anything about it.’

But Vermaelen admits Walcott has been ‘invaluable’ for the Gunners this term. He added: ‘He is dangerous for us, can stretch a team with his pace and I hope he could stay this year.’

Arsenal came under fire following their Capital One Cup defeat on penalties at League Two Bradford a week ago, with Vermaelen’s spot-kick miss confirming their exit.

After Monday’s win at Reading, Vermaelen added: ‘You can’t stand still too long with a defeat like that. We had a lot to prove. A lot of people questioned us and maybe that’s normal but we wanted to perform against Reading and we did that.’