Theo James Walcott - Born 16th March 1989.
He was born in Stanmore, North London and his early years were spent in Newbury, Berks where he played for A.F.C. Newbury scoring over 100 goals in his first season and only season before moving to Swindon Town. He spent 6 months there before being scouted and transferred to Southampton rejecting the chance to join Chelski and earning himself a sponsorship contract with Nike.
For his shame he's a Liverpool fan.
He made his first team debut for Southampton as a substitute in a 0:0 draw at home to Wolves in 2005 aged 16 years and 143 days. He made his full first team debut away to Leeds United on the 18th October 2005 and scored his first senior goal.
He transferred to Arsenal on the 20th January 2006, for a fee reported to be around £5 million, with add-ons depending on performance that could boost the fee up to around £12 million. He was given the number 32 squad number and did not play for the rest of the season.
His first senior game in Arsenal colours was in the second leg of a Champions league qualifying match against Dinamo Zagreb, becoming Arsenals youngest every player to appear in European Competition besting Fabregas' record although it has since been beaten by Jack Wilshire. He earned BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year at the end of 2006.
His first ever goal for Arsenal was scored in the 2:1 defeat in the 2007 League Cup Final, where his goal in the 11th minute opened the scoring but did not secure the win. Incidentally it has since been reported that Theo rejected advances from Liverpool, The Spuds, and Chelski were interested in signing him from Southampton before we nabbed him.
Theo's career has been dogged by criticism, unfairly levelled for the most part and comparisons with Thierry Henry have also been like a millstone around his neck. Henry is someone Theo respects massively and jumped at the chance of having the #14 shirt assigned to him. Creating greater pressure on himself.
He has suffered terribly with his shoulders, a genetic problem and both shoulders have required operation to restructure and reinforce the shoulders to prevent dislocation. This inevitably has caused a stop-start period to Theo's Arsenal career.
Theo is a player that I rate. I think is potential is extraordinary, but he does need to start putting in performances that ensure he has a regular starting berth. Similar to Rosicky he is benched due to the form of Nasri and Arshavin. Tonight is a chance for Walcott to shine. Wigan's defence has more holes than an overly generous piece of Emmental and a lack of pace to delight.
Questions have been raised about his composure and final ball, so he will be under the spotlight. I hope he performs again and proves his worth. Theo is still so very young, something oft forgotten in between the criticism and I look forward to watching him grow.
WG
Theo Walcott....lol.
ReplyDeleteOne of the worse buys for Arsene, especially for the amount of money he spent on him.
I would sold him in the a long time ago and brought in a footballer rather than a runner.
I honestly do believe he is a runner and not a footballer, I mean look at Van Der Vaart, a natural footballer, or Adam Johnson for Man city, these are the type of attackers we should have instead of Walcott.
I never criticize my team but Walcott and Bendtner are the two of the worse attackers I've seen in Arsenal shirts in my 23 years of supporting the club, and that is a huge statement considering how much I love the club and really hate gunning down the players like this!
I appreciate your viewpoint, but do you not think we need different options sometimes? We've got tricky players in Arshavin, Rosicky, Nasri but noone with real pace to burn.
ReplyDeleteLets not forget, pace is an asset often forgotten but defenders hate pace, they are often running backwards towards their goal and trying to close space and at pace its difficult.
Theo gives us that option. I agree his strike rate isn't brilliant, but he's 21 and he's been more prolific this season with his goals/games ratio.
Keep the faith Mr Anon.