Arsenal have reached an agreement with forward Theo Walcott over a new four-year contract to keep him at the club until 2019.

The Gunners announced the new deal alongside confirmation of Santi Cazorla's extension on Friday:

David Ornstein of BBC Sport provided further details on Walcott's new contract:

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger spoke to Arsenal.com about the importance of his two stars:

We’re delighted to have extended the contracts of Santi and Theo. Both are top quality players who are hugely important and influential to our squad.

As well as their huge contributions on the pitch, they both have a great deal of experience and are very popular off the pitch. We’re very pleased with them both signing contract extensions, as it provides our squad with further stability of quality.

Talk about locking up the forward, who was previously signed until 2016, started heating up toward the end of the 2014-15 season—in which Walcott was limited to only four Premier League starts because of a knee injury, per WhoScored.com.

He finished last season in fine form, blasting in four Premier League goals during the last two matches of the campaign, including a hat-trick in the 4-1 win over West Bromwich Albion. He concluded the season with five league goals, netting once every 88 minutes, recorded by WhoScored. 

The buzzword when it comes to the 26-year-old remains "potential." He is frighteningly quick and naturally stretches Arsenal's play when feeding off through balls provided by the likes of Cazorla, Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey.

Yet Wenger has spent many years farming Walcott on to the wing, a position that emphasises he is more effective when finishing moves off than starting them. Walcott has reached double figures just once in the Premier League—scoring 14 in 2012-13—a season that coincided with him playing up front before Christmas.

B/R UK's Sam Tighe believes Walcott needs to justify his new wages:

Wenger will rely on Walcott and Olivier Giroud for goals next season. Walcott has appeared immensely sharp in pre-season, scoring against Everton and Wolfsburg to carry his confident form into Sunday's Community Shield encounter with Chelsea. A solid performance against Jose Mourinho's Blues will set him up for Arsenal's Premier League opener with West Ham United on Aug. 9.

Walcott is no longer a young player who can be forgiven for making basic mistakes. His new deal should coincide with him hitting his stride for an Arsenal team who have ambitions of challenging Chelsea for the English title.