Wenger insists Walcott’s time will come

ARSENE WENGER is in no doubt teenager Theo Walcott could “help” England — but he warned it would be wrong to bill the Arsenal youngster as the nation’s saviour-in-waiting.

Walcott was fast-tracked into Sven-Goran Eriksson’s World Cup squad before he played for the Arsenal first team, but did not get a game in Germany.

The pacy 17-year-old has so far only been used as an impact substitute by Wenger this season — and to great effect. Walcott grabbed the headlines again when he came off the bench to score twice as England U-21s beat Germany in their European Championship play-off on Tuesday — a night before the senior national team were humbled by Croatia in Zagreb.

Wenger believes the teenager is starting to show the potential which in January persuaded Arsenal to pay Southampton a fee which could rise to £12m (€17.8m). But the Arsenal manager was also at pains to stress not too much should be expected from Walcott too soon.

Wenger declared: “Theo Walcott can help — but it is wrong to think that a boy of 17 has to save a country, that is not right. He certainly will be an England player in the future, but you cannot say now.”

Given that Wenger’s jet-lagged stars face three matches in the space of the next eight days, Walcott could be unleashed from the start against Premiership strugglers Watford at the Emirates Stadium today.

The Gunners will be going for a fourth straight league win, however Wenger noted: “He can do it for us. He can start for Arsenal — but he must not only be good enough to start for us, he must be better than the player who starts for us and at the moment, that is where his problem is.

“Theo was ready to come on at the World Cup, but he was maybe not ready to start the games with all the pressure. But when the space opens up, it does not matter if you are 17 or 30, if you are quick, you are quick.”

Wenger reflected: “The expectation level for him is so high. If he plays and he is not superb, everybody comments on it and the day he plays everybody says, ‘Oh, we have to see something special from you’.

“It is exactly the reverse for most young players because nobody expects anything from them, anything they do is exceptional.”

Wenger insisted: “I feel Theo is a player who will just naturally make it — he has the technical and physical qualities, and he is level-headed.”

Parallels have naturally been drawn between the impact Wayne Rooney had on England when he was 17 and the potential of Walcott to do the same. Although the Manchester United striker is currently suffering a blip in form with the national team — his last competitive goal coming at the Euro 2004 finals — Wenger is in no doubt of Rooney’s class is permanent.

The Arsenal boss said: “I think Rooney is a big player. He will come back, I am not at all worried about Rooney.”