January 20 – Arsenal Snap up Theo

ARSENAL were again the winners in the race to sign one of the game’s brightest youngsters today in 2006 as 16-year-old Theo Walcott packed his bags and left Southampton for north London.

Walcott had been making waves on the south coast ever since he had been a part of Saints’ youth side that had reached the final of the FA Youth Cup in the 2004/05 season.

That season he also found time to become Southampton’s youngest ever reserve team player at 15 years and 175 days as the media began to pick up on the young speedster. Walcott made his full Saints debut against Leeds United in October 2005, scoring his first goal as the big clubs began to circle.

With Southampton feeling the financial effects of relegation it was inevitable that Walcott would soon be moving to the Premier League, with Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal all interested in the teenager.

It was Arsenal that would win the race, signing Walcott for an initial fee of £5m rising to a possible £12m, which made him the most expensive 16-year-old in ever in England. Due to their ongoing financial problems Southampton had to settle the deal early, so the eventual fee has been £9.1m.

Young Theo spent the rest of the season in the Arsenal reserves as Wenger’s masterplan for his new charge was to break him into the first team gently. This was a strategy that England manager Sven Goran Eriksson obviously didn’t agree with, as he parachuted Walcott into the 2006 World Cup squad after he had given Theo his England debut against Hungary, before he had even made a Premier League appearance.

Eriksson’s leftfield decision took the football world by surprise, as the Swede said he wanted to “try something new” and not include a host of established Premier League strikers such as Darren Bent, Andy Johnson and Dean Ashton. Hmm, when you put it that way, maybe Sven was onto something.

Theo didn’t feature for the Three Lions in Germany, but following the tournament he would go on to progress at a more steady rate, making his Premier League and England Under-21 debuts.

The start of this season saw Walcott become a regular in the Arsenal side and he came back into the England set-up, where he truly announced his arrival on the international stage by bagging a hat-trick in England’s crucial World Cup qualifier in Croatia. Injury has kept him out since November, but we wouldn’t bet against him playing a big role in Arsenal’s battle to secure a Champions League performance this season.

We’ll leave you with Walcott’s finest moments as a Saint below and if you want to know which other youngster was making waves today, click here. Unlike Dubya, we’ll be back tomorrow, so see you then.