As Gary Neville reminded Theo Walcott, the 34-year-old has achieved what millions of children dream about but find untenable, he had ‘completed football’.
Arsenal’s former player used the Overlap YouTube programme to announce his retirement.
He says it would be unfair to accept one of the multiple offers as a free agent when his ‘heart wasn’t in it’ anymore.
Some might argue his passion for the sport started to fade in 2018. That’s when he accepted a transfer to Everton, ending his 12 years stay in North London.
Numerous injuries had meant he had been robbed of the pace which was always his major weapon.
As evidenced at Goodison and then Saint Mary’s, his mind was willing, his body was not.
That his contract was allowed to expire at his last two clubs with zero offers to stay tells its own story.
The irony is that an interview to hang up his boots was heavily focused on the narrative of a 16-year-old being selected for a World Cup having yet played a second of Prem football.
That decision, one that threw a teenager into a national spotlight, was such a weight around his neck that it’s almost appropriate he should mention it as he chooses to turn his back on the game.
It meant the press attention was bigger on and off the pitch than it would have been had he not gone on the plane to Germany.
The expectation level would have been lower.
He would have had more room to breathe and develop at his own speed.
The moment Sven Goran Erikson selected him ahead of Jermaine Defoe and Darrent Bent, everyone wanted to know just how special was this talent have to be to be picked ahead of peers who were starting every week while Mr Wenger wouldn’t even put him on his bench in the League?
All parties have admitted it was a mistake. Instead of being England’s secret weapon, Theo turned up. exactly what he was, a shy, quiet child who looked out of place alongside the golden generation.
His teammates looked after him and made sure he felt part of the set up, but even they couldn’t quite work out why the decision had been made?
So, when Theo Walcott didn’t turn out to be the Three Lions version of Messi or Ronaldo, everyone wanted to know why?
The accusations ranged from him lacking the intelligence to improve and/or being too nice to succeed.
At his peak, the attacker was good but simply not world class. Zero disgrace in that.
He still performed at a level where he consistently played for one of the biggest clubs in the UK, mostly in the Champions League.
If he had been born elsewhere, his career would be celebrated.
As he rightly points out, he’s recorded stats that most today would deem a success.
Imagine if Eddie Nketiah one year scored 21 goals and contributed 16 assists!
Yet, I have written on this site long enough to know the very same readers who defend Eddie’s numbers of 15 league goals in 6 seasons, were always ruthless towards Theo. Sometimes downright nasty.
It highlights the standards our fanbase once had, and how a generation have grown up thinking they can’t say anything bad about the players we have.
The bar of what is acceptable has been lowered.
Only 19 men in our entire history have scored over 100 goals for the Arsenal, only 7 in the Prem era.
The irony being that for someone deemed too nice, he came out fighting as he sat down with Mr Neville.
Instead of focusing on bad luck with injuries, Cup Finals he missed, international tournaments he was overlooked for, disagreements with Capello and Southgate, etc, Theo simplified how he viewed the last 18 years.
He dreamt of football being his paid job.
Not just did that become a reality, he won trophies, played at Finals, shared the pitch with Europe’s finest, represented his country, travelled the world, etc.
Fittingly his final goal was against us.
Given how he was treated by some at the Emirates many deserved for him to get the last laugh, playing his role in costing us in the title race.
We might be seeing more of Theo in the world of media.
One a Gunner, always a Gunner.
On behalf of everyone at JustArsenal enjoy your retirement, Theo.
Dan
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
He was a very good player and really fast player. I appreciate his contributions to our team. Thanks Theo and all the best moving forward
I loved watching him and was quite sad when his impressive form dropped and he was sold. Happy retirement Theo.
I thought he was still pretty quick when he scored against us last season.
One outstanding memory was in the match against Spurs when he was being stretchered off after being injured, he gave the hostile Spurs fans the 2-0 sign, to remind them that they were losing, while they still pelted him.
Wishes to him and his beautiful wife Melanie for a pleasant future in Hampshire.
Sign Dat Ting….
I believe the prime Walcott, Henry and Overmars are the paciest players at Arsenal. I still remember how he dribbled past four opponents in a game, using his blistering pace
As a conventional winger, he had a good goal tally. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to give us an EPL or UCL trophy
Sorry DAN but, speaking personally I ” would argue that his passion for the sport did NOT fade in 2018″, when he left us, but that his PASSION for giving his utmost and being a whole heated tryer in every game, like such as Xhaka and most other players we have had, started to fade almost as soon as he first arrived.
I can think of only one lazier still playerthan Walcott in all my many decades as a Gooner. No prizes for guessing that was Ozil.
Both had talent ; Ozil far more than Walcott, but BOTH lacked the all important self motivation to make the most of it.
SUCH A SHAME WHEN TALENT IS LARGELY WASTED BY LAZINESS.
I wish Theo well and he AND was always a good human being, but passion for giving his ALL in all games, is not something I have ever seen in HIM. I only wish it WERE there, but sadly, this way overhyped, far too long stayer, was a career long coaster.
Even his 100 goals took him a great too many years and his all round invisibility in SO MANY GAMES harmed our progress terribly.
Essentially he was too comfortable with being just another player and never strived hard enough to be a real TOP CLASS player
I would add this too for you to consider. ALL players are hugely financially rewarded . And unlike the olden days when players were paid just a decent normal living wage, a key part of the contractthey sign, but which we seldom hear about anywhere – is that when signing on to receive that huge wage and luxurious lifestyle, which allows them to live in luxury for the rest of their life, without needing to play into old fotball age, is that , IN RETURN, they contract to we fans and to the manager and their team mates, to GIVE THEIR UTMOST IN EVERY GAME.
Most players do that; Walcott and esp Ozil, patently did NOT.
I am allowed my opinion btw and if it upsets some of you, then please do not childishly simply call me rude names, but instead have the wit and decency to write, for all to read, WHY you take a different slant from my own.
So OZIL DIDN’T make the most of his talent… Forget the world cup win and all those trophy’s with Madrid….????
frightening bias
Crispen, hardly an intelligent reply is it! I suggest that what matters to our great club is how our players play WHILE WEARING OUR SHIRT, and far less about what they may once have done before coming here.
I neve r suggested a you well know, that OZIL lacked talent. Indeed the point of part of my pos,t was to say that he DID have special talent, but that while an Arsenal player- and I could not care less what ANY player in our entire history has done, either before or after being here, but ONLY WHILST he is here, unlike you,it seems- he was too lazy to make the most of it
As was Walcott , albeit about a lesser talent than Ozil.
How does it help Arsenalat all that he won honours with Real and also the WC, in the face of his relentless lack of effort , while wearing OUR shirt!!?
Care to comment sensible and pertinently on THAT?
You could’ve just wished him well on his retirement rather than an article on why you think he was not up to standard as an Arsenal player even if you are right it no longer matters cos he is long gone.
When in the article did I say that ?
That was meant for jon fox cos his post which i find very unnecessary is so long i called it an article………save it, apologies accepted.
For Jon Fox
Agree with you to a certain extent about his personal drive to reach the top even though he did well in parts. He was not consistent enough.
For this I actually blame Wenger a bit because of his hands off management style after 2008 albeit successful in keeping us in the top4. I saw Joel Campbell (a lesser talent) have many good games for Arsenal and yet he benched him and picked Walcott. I felt benching Walcott at that time would have given him the kick up the backside to make him work harder to be the best version of himself and a bigger threat to the opposition and a greater asset to ourselves.
As far as Ozil is concerned I WILL disagree with you because his kind of work rate would have only worked if there was a Van Persie as a striker (and not a Giroud or a Walcott as strikers). He needed top talent around him to function. Great talent but wrong time to buy this kind of player in 2013. Should have been bought in 2011 and held onto to ou existing top talents to showcase his ability. In 2013 we should have got Higuain not Ozil.
” I saw Joel Campbell (a lesser talent) have many good games for Arsenal and yet he benched him and picked Walcott”
I felt that much more keenly when it came to Carlos vela, who I always thought was a far superior talent. Had about as much pace as theo, was stronger, could finish well, and he has a first touch to rival RVP. He proved himself to a large degree later with sociedad as well, but i always thought he could have been a top player at arsenal. There’s probably something behind the scenes that we don’t know about. I suspect Walcott was extremely professional in training, and maybe the others weren’t, for example.
For Davi
Agree with you about Vela. He was a top talent. Something happened when he came back from international duty with a fever. After that I just thought he was not flavour of the year and never picked and moved on.
Like you say it is what happened behind the scenes.
I totally agree with you on this one. Theo Walcott lacks the zeal to go into a match to win it all. He was just like a fan wearing Jersey on pitch. I bet a fan would’ve performed better.
I always thought him to be symbolic of the decline of arsenal – too much was given to him far too soon (in terms of money, yes, but more importantly in terms of pressure and responsibility).
I always thought he did his best, but the pressures appeared to mess with his head – that, along with his injuries, made it impossible for him to show any real consistency in performance. I think this is what he explained in his interview.
His time at arsenal was characterised by short bursts of around 6 games where he looked unstoppable (during which he scored the bulk of his impressive tally of goals), followed by longer periods where you’d forget he was on the pitch.
Nothing against him as a person – I have a very positive view of him, he seems very humble and grounded, which is commendable given what happened during his career. I’m just sad he wasn’t able to truly fulfil his obvious talent. He did still have an excellent career, as stated in the article, which just goes to show how much talent he really did possess.
The difference with Eddie is down to individual expectations, rather than an overall lowering of standards imo. I don’t think Eddie was ever seen as an immense talent in the way theo was – but yes, theo did deserve a lot more understanding for the pressures he was under.
Imo wenger put too much on him, and should have protected him more, especially when he was first signed. I felt Theo hinted at that in reference to his selection for the first world cup, but he wouldn’t say it directly, as I’m sure he has immense gratitude and respect for his old manager.
Anyway, he did leave a mark and did have a significant career at arsenal – certainly deserves this tribute article on his retirement.
I remember a short run of games where we had Walcott, fabregas, van persie and Nasri all fit and playing in the same side, and thinking that was the best attacking lineup I’ve seen at arsenal. Walcott was undoubtedly the least impressive of those four as an all round footballer, but his pace and finishing abilities were so dangerous with those players around him. Of course one of them got injured after a couple of games (probably RVP) and there was an immediate drop in quality.
Had we been able to keep that set of players on the pitch for the best part of a season, who knows.
Yeah, those four along with Rosisky would have taken us to greater heights if not for injuries, so sad we could’nt go a whole season with the fantastic 5 constantly in the team.
For Davi and Vamos
You forgot the most important one IMO which is Abou Diaby. What a talent on the treatment table forever it seemed like.
Yes absolutely, diaby was incredible, as was Rosicky – I was talking very specifically about a few games that stuck in my mind where those four players collectively looked a bit too good for the league, but there were a good number of players who were ruined by injuries at arsenal. Wilshere is another who was very unfortunate.
Urgghh!! That’s another one @IndianGunnerLondon, so heartbreaking and depriving of more glory days no thanks though cos you just triggered my trauma.*tears in my eye*
Sorry about that Vamos. I did not mean it as a trigger for anything apart from debate.
Surely those injuries highlight the long lasting lack of depth in Wengers second decade here.
I always thought AW became , after asublime few years, FAR too comfortable and a compamy man first, rather than ALWAYS putting the success of the team and a far deeper squad first.
That is why and how I first identified AW and his lessening hunger for REAL SUCCESS, (meaning NOT merely top fours)as far back as 2008.
PASSION AND TRUE HUNGER GIVE ANYONE THE VITALLY NEEDED DRIVE TO SUCCEED IN LIFE. Unless you have such hunger , you have no hope of being FIRST, not fourth, in modern football.
He belonged to the time when I loved watching Arsenal the most. Will always have fond memories of him and players of that era. Wishing him all the best.
Happy retirement Theo and good luck on whatever your establishment is post retirement, once a gunner always a gunner.COYG!!!
Wish Walcott a very happy retirement.
Cracking human being.
Thanks for the great goals and some lovely mazy runs. The one I remember the most is the one against Liverpool at Anfield (a CL game that we actually lost a little controversially due to a dubious penalty against us) for the run to set up Adebayor for an equaliser to 1-1.
isn’t he young to retire that Saudi league cannot accommodate him?? OK that’s my opinion. Happy retirement Theo.
Brilliant article Dan and I agree with most of what you say and there is even more to talk about regarding Theo Walcott, if one bothered to look into his stats, including how he outshone one of our greatest players, George Armstrong.
But I want to concentrate on those Arsenal fans who criticise him… and, as usual, it’s the same people who criticise nearly every player, not only for their performances, but also their personalities, without ever having met them!
How can ANYONE say that he never reached his full potential, when they have no idea what his potential was?
It was THEIR opinion of his potential, rather than accepting the opinion of proven managers who were selecting him on a regular basis for club and country (the same goes for Ozil, by that’s another story).
The last time I checked, Theo had, by using his god given talents, amassed a personal fortune of over £25,000,000 – hardly a meagre figure and one that suggests he was impressing those who really knew the man, wouldn’t you say?
As with Bellerin, the injuries Theo sustained, took away one of his most fantastic attributes… speed.
But his footballing brain allowed him to continue playing at the top level of English football throughout his ENTIRE career and he completed his personal footballing circle, when he rejoined his boyhood club Southampton.
I’m sure he would have dreamt that kind of scenario as a young boy and his wildest dreams came true, in my opinion.
Thanks for the memories Theo and that two fingered gesture at the spuds fans will surely be remembered as part of our folklore?!?!
Enjoy your retirement and I’m sure you’ll continue to live up to the potential that you set yourself and b***er the rest!!
“It was THEIR opinion of his potential, rather than accepting the opinion of proven managers who were selecting him on a regular basis for club and country”
I don’t recall any manager saying he did fulfil his potential (ie he couldn’t have achieved more or been any better than he was). Them selecting him for matches doesn’t have any bearing on it – that just says that they thought he was better than the other players they had.
I thought he had the potential to be a top scorer, or one of the top scorers, in the league, at least for one or two seasons, but he never was. I would hazard a guess wenger and many other proven managers thought the same at one time…
I don’t recall any manager saying that Theo didn’t achieve his potential, as they kept signing him and selecting him.
Of course he was better than any other player they had, that’s why they selected him… what are you trying to get at with that statement?
In fact, when Theo was selected to play for England, the manager had the entire English footballing world to choose from… so why did he choose Theo?
As for being one of the top scorers in the league, can you name me a player who was a top scorer in the position that Theo played most of his career in, out on the wing?
Cristiano Ronaldo.
Theo was probably meant to be a striker in a 442 system, but of course things changed (I wish they didn’t at that point in time tbh). It’s possible he could have shown himself to be good enough to convince the manager to stick with a 2 striker system – famously wenger played him as the lone striker, reportedly at theo’s request, and he did quite well if I recall, but he didn’t stay there because he wasn’t a perfect fit for the role
He didn’t *have* to be the top goalscorer, but it’s obvious he didn’t play brilliantly in anything like as many games as he could have. There’s not really another easily attainable statistic to measure how well he did vs what he perhaps could have achieved.
“I don’t recall any manager saying that Theo didn’t achieve his potential, as they kept signing him and selecting him.
Of course he was better than any other player they had, that’s why they selected him… what are you trying to get at with that statement?”
I was saying that the managers selecting him doesn’t back up your point that those managers believed he fulfilled his potential – the two points don’t connect logically.
Say he reached 50% of his potential, but that was still good enough to be better than his competition for a place in the team, then them selecting him doesn’t say anything about their opinion on whether he reached his potential.
So when Theo was selected to play for England (whether he had reached the potential that YOU felt he had) was that not a sign that he was playing well?
Of course there are no stats to say if he reached his full potential, but to have played his entire career in the top league, gained international caps and won trophies indicates that he was amongst the top tier of players in his position, doesn’t it?
If managers didn’t have better players than Theo, why didn’t they go out and sign a better player?
Of course your thinking falls down with his international career, simply because the manager had the choice of every single player in England and chose Theo.
As for Ronaldo, nice to see you compared his stats to Theo, any others?
Once again, Ken, I think we’re having different conversations.
When we bought him, the hope was this was someone who could reach Henry levels in the future. He didn’t get remotely close to that. I believe he could have gotten a lot closer than he did based on his technical and physical abilities, but he didn’t quite have it in the other aspects. Had he been bought at the time when Ashley Cole was coming through, for example, I think we’d have seen a much tougher player who’d have achieved a lot more.
He wasn’t always first choice for England btw – in his interview with neville he talks about being left out of the 2010 world cup – seems capello wasn’t a fan.
In any case, I think he could have been a lot better but I never said he wasn’t good. He was, I liked him, just didn’t think he was “a great”, mostly because he was far too inconsistent
Another player: salah
Oh, raheem sterling and mane scored plenty of goals as well. There’s a few actually
I do believe that Theo Walcott scored more CL goals than :
Christiano Ronaldo
David Villa
Zinadine Zidane
Carlos Tevez
Michael Owen
Rahem Stirling and Mane.
Maybe I’m wrong?
Certainly not C. Ronaldo (he has the most of all time), I think it’s the other Ronaldo.
Don’t see the relevance – I didn’t say he was a bad player – but what is your point? Do you think he was better than those you listed, or do you think he might have scored more than those specific (cherry picked) players for other reasons? Eg those players didn’t all play for clubs in the champions league for their entire career, and some had even worse injury issues than theo.
If you look at the all time list, most of the top scorers are from the last 25 years or so, presumably due to the competition increasing in size over the years, and theo doesn’t make the top 50, which is where it stops.
Sorry it was the other Ronaldo.
My point is quite obvious – for someone who, it’s alleged, never reached their full potential for whatever reason given above, still managed to outscore players who are seen to be icons in the game.
Zinadine for example or even Tevez…. are you saying that you (and others) believe that Theo has the potential to become even greater than the likes of Zinadine, but was too lazy (not you on this word) to fulfill that potential?
Give over and show respect for the man who, probably, fulfilled all his footballing dreams and more beside, while achieving this during (we are led to believe once again) our worst period under AW and his team of so called deadwood players.
Should have added the following facts:
397 PL appearances
49 full England caps
Just to put his career into perspective.
Zidane was never a goalscorer, so that’s moot – if you judge him on goalscoring, he was average but he was obviously one of the very top players of his time. That’s why those particular players were picked – it’s cherry picking big names. I’m sure he scored more goals in Europe than Maradona – do did many other players, doesn’t mean anything on its own.
(tevez I can’t explain off hand, but I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation)
Scholes scored more goals than those players, and also more than Walcott – and while scholes was a great player, I’d say Walcott was more of a forward and a better goalscorer, so I don’t think those stats are especially meaningful.
I’m not saying he could have been better than Zidane, but i believe he could have been world class, closer to Zidane. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe he just played to his level throughout his career, but i really don’t think so – like I said earlier, his career was defined by short bursts of brilliance, followed by longer stretches of mediocrity. If he could have found consistency, if he was able to maintain his brilliant form for longer, he’d undoubtedly have been world class. Why he couldn’t do that, I can’t say, but would say that brilliant form is a fair way to assess his potential.
For perspective relevant to the Champions league goals point – he scored 19 in total (I think excluding qualifiers), over more than 10 seasons. I’m not saying that to put him down tbh, it just shows that it’s a meaningless to say he scored more than other famous players.
The real big scores in the competition scored over 50, and the top scorer 141.
kEN I am intrigued that you, as a socialist, are impressed by huge personal wealth and the doubtless smart skills of those who attain them.
Esp compared to myself, a firm believe in liberal and above all FAIR capitalism, who has little regard for supremely rich folk, UNLESS they use that wealth for the common good AND have attained it ethically.
I refer to such, in that case as Bill GATES, whom I admire immensely.
I further denigrate huge personal fortunes ,IF and only if, it comes at the expense of common ordinary decent folk and them being the reason such a wealthy individual is SO wealthy.
To my mind KEN, TRUE riches are those that you have in your soul ,irrespective of ANY material wealth or lack of it.
Just my life philosophy, but I thought it worth spelling out, esp in the view of your above post..
Loved theo. Good player. Not the world class we expected ut also not poor either. Good luck all the best take care
Theo is an Arsenal legend, without any arguments. I was very happy that he got the first goal in the 2015 FA Cup Final after missing out of action in the previous triumph due to injury, but played a big role in the road to the first Wenger trophy in 9 years. Arsenal fans were fed up, but I kept believing in him, left us some great memories including 7-3 v Newcastle and 5-7 at Reading, etc…