Theo Walcott

Theo James Walcott is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Southampton, on loan from Everton, and the English national team. He is a product of the Southampton Academy and started his career with Southampton before joining Arsenal for £5million in 2006. On 30 May 2006, Walcott became England’s youngest ever senior football player aged 17 years and 75 days. He represented England at the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2012 and has 47 caps, scoring eight goals. Walcott has scored more than 100 goals for the club.

About Theo Walcott in brief

Summary Theo WalcottTheo James Walcott is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Southampton, on loan from Everton, and the English national team. He is a product of the Southampton Academy and started his career with Southampton before joining Arsenal for £5 million in 2006. On 30 May 2006, Walcott became England’s youngest ever senior football player aged 17 years and 75 days. On 6 September 2008, he made his first competitive start in a World Cup qualifier against Andorra, and in the following match against Croatia on 10 September he became the youngest player in history to score a hat-trick for England. He represented England at the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2012 and has 47 caps, scoring eight goals. Walcott has been played as a striker since the 2012–13 season when he was Arsenal’s top scorer, and he has scored more than 100 goals for the club. His speedy pace and ball crossing led his manager Arsène Wenger to deploy him on the wing for most of his career. He was born to a black British Jamaican father and a white English mother. He grew up as a Liverpool fan due to his father’s support of Liverpool. He rejected a chance to join Chelsea after Nike agreed to a sponsorship deal with Walcott at the age of 14. In December 2005, he received the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award. His rapid rise to fame also led him to be named amongst the top three finalists for the prestigious BBC Young Footballer of The Year award on 11 December 2005.

He made his full first-team debut away to Leeds United on 18 October 2005, and became Southampton’s youngest senior goalscorer after 25 minutes of the 2–1 defeat. He scored again away at Millwall four days later, and yet again in his full home debut against Stoke City the following Saturday. In the 2004–05 season, he starred in the Southampton youth team that reached the final of the FA Youth Cup against Ipswich Town. He spent only six months at Swindon Town, before leaving for Southampton after he rejected a offer from Chelsea. He signed for Arsenal on 20 January 2006, for a fee of £5million, rising to £12 million depending on appearances for club and country. In March 2008 Walcott initially agreed as a scholar to sign a professional contract on his 17th birthday, having agreed a settlement of £2 bonus payments and £1.9million in March 2008. His first appearance for Arsenal was in the Champions League, coming as a substitute against Aston Villa and setting up a goal for Gilberto Silva in the third round of qualifying. His next appearance was four days earlier in the second leg of Arsenal’s Champions League qualifying match against Din Dinary Dinary. In September 2006, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger confirmed that Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Liverpool had all been interested in signing him. Walcott made his Premier League debut on 19 August 2006, the first day of the first round of qualification for the UEFA Champions League.