William Gallas has blamed the English media as the reason Theo Walcott never reached his full potential.
The attacker moved to Arsenal as a 17-year-old in 2006 after a blistering start to life as a player at Southampton.
He was fast-tracked to the Gunners’ first team and caught the attention of the world with his pace and dribbling ability.
He spent the next 12 years at the Emirates before leaving for Everton, but he cannot say he reached his full potential.
Arsenal kept expecting him to fire them to another league title, but he is now considered a wonder kid who had a normal career, eventually.
Gallas was his teammate at the Emirates and the Frenchman believes the hype around his emergence is partly to blame for his failure to reach his full potential.
He said via The Sun:
“There is a problem when they speak too quickly about players they think are going to be top-class. He was still young, 16 or 17.
“I felt he needed time to let him get to another level, and not to put that pressure on him. They put pressure on them, indirectly, when they write these things about him, even if they are being very humble.
“So for me I’m not really surprised Walcott hasn’t had the career he was touted to have had.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
All prodigies get more than the required attention and media coverage because they amaze us.
You cannot blame the media for raving over the next big thing because everyone loves to watch and read these stories.
Walcott had an average career, but he did better than several other wonder-kids.
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