Theo Walcott: biography

Theo Walcott is an English footballer who plays for Arsenal, as well as the England national team. Walcott is a versatile player who can operate on either wing or as a striker.

Beginnings

Theo James Walcott was born on 16 March 1989 in Stanmore, North London. He scored over 100 goals for A.F.C Newbury in a season before he was signed by Swindon Town. Just six months later, he rejected a move to Chelsea in order to sign for Southampton.

Career

Walcott became Southampton’s youngest ever player in 2005 at the age of 16 years and 143 days. After just 21 appearances for Southampton, Walcott was sold to Arsenal on 20th January 2006 for an initial fee of £5 million, which could rise to £12 million depending on the amount of appearances he made for club and country. Walcott made his Premier League debut on 19 August 2006 as he came on as a substitute and set up Arsenal’s equalizer against Aston Villa. His first goal came in the 2007 League Cup Final as Arsenal were beaten 2-1 by Chelsea. At the start of the 2008/9 season he was assigned Thierry Henry’s number 14 shirt and soon established himself as Arsenal’s regular right winger. However, in November, while away training with England, he dislocated his right shoulder and was ruled out for six months. The 2010/11 season has been Walcott’s best to date as he scored his first career hat trick against Blackpool and then followed this up with a crucial goal against Newcastle and a brace against Chelsea. However, his progress was again hampered by injury as an ankle injury ruled him out of League Cup Final. Walcott was a surprise inclusion in England’s 2006 World Cup squad when he was called up by Sven Goran Eriksson at the age of 17. Although he didn’t play in the tournament, he became England’s youngest ever senior player at the age of 17 years and 75 days when he made his debut in a warm-up game against Hungary at Old Trafford. To date, he has made 16 international appearances and all three of his international goals came against Croatia in a 4-1 World Cup Qualifier victory in Zagreb. Despite this, he was controversially left out of Fabio Capello’s 23 man World Cup squad in 2010.

Achievements

In his brief time at Southampton, his only definitive achievement was as a member of the youth side that finished as runners-up in the 2005 FA Youth Cup. In his time at Arsenal, Walcott has been on the runners-up side in the League Cup in 2007 and 2011.