Gym’ll fix it: new-look Walcott back with bang

INJURIES change footballers, and not always for the worse. Time earmarked for recuperation does not have to be wasted and, for a dedicated, lucky few, players can return changed men.

By a quirk of the calendar, this is literally the case for Theo Walcott. When England’s medical staff carried him off the training pitch at London Colney last November, his right shoulder ripped from its socket after a challenge from Scott Parker, he was a bona fide teenager.

When he returned for Arsenal’s FA Cup fifth round cruise against Burnley in March, his salad days were almost over: eight days later, he turned 20 and finally discarded the tag of his nation’s most trumpeted teen.

He will report for today’s semi-final meeting with Chelsea a man transformed, and not simply in age.

Physically, he bears no relation to the skinny wisp of a winger that joined from Southampton, looking as if one decent roar from the crowd would send him tumbling.

Hours spent in Arsenal’s gymnasium have piled flesh onto his bones, leaving him sturdier but still capable of the explosive acceleration which has always left full-backs gasping for breath.

Then there are those troublesome shoulders. Walcott underwent surgery on the left joint last March after one dislocation too many, although it was the right which soured the memory of his first Arsenal goal, in the 2007 Carling Cup final against Chelsea.

“I had a massive strapping on that day and it still popped out a few times,’’ he recalled. “I hid it quite well, but the pain was excruciating. The right shoulder was always the worst because it would pop out and pop back in — you know, like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon.’’

Walcott duly confirmed his action hero credentials within seconds of his first-team return, when he absorbed a clattering challenge from Burnley’s Christian Kalvenes. “It was a real whack but the shoulder didn’t pop out. It proved it was strong,’’ Walcott recalled.

Yet it was not simply Walcott’s muscles and joints which were hardened during his convalescence. His attitude also grew flintier: he would watch matches from his private box at the Emirates as an analyst, not a fan, making a mental note of the spaces he could exploit on his return, while he took to heart Wenger’s plea for his young players to embrace responsibility — hardly an onerous task for a player who silenced Zagreb’s Maksimir stadium with an international hat-trick last September.

The Frenchman reaped the rewards when he was forced to ask four players under the age of 22 — including Walcott — to take penalties in the churning cauldron of Roma’s Stadio Olimpico. All four scored.

“I’d never experienced a shoot-out before,’’ Walcott said. “I’m normally watching at home and want to see it go to penalties for the excitement.

“As a player, taking a penalty like that is hard. You walk up to take the kick and it’s like walking in slow motion: your throat goes dry, you can’t hear anything. It was such a relief for me to see it go in, but it showed how much strength of character we’ve got because we came through.’’

This afternoon promises to provide another stern test of Arsenal’s mettle, not least because they are poised to start with no fewer than six defenders sidelined through illness and injury. Wenger suggested yesterday all-out attack would form Arsenal’s best method of defence, a tactic which will place even greater emphasis on Walcott.

“I’m happy with taking responsibility,’’ he said. Then, his eyes brightened a little. “This is the FA Cup — it’s massive.’’

Proof, if any were needed, that for all his new-found maturity, there is still a little of the kid in Theo Walcott.