Theo Walcott on Ollie Watkins' route to Arsenal and learning from 'bubbly' Roy Keane
Premier League legend, Theo Walcott, as Guinness announce the new #TransferThatPint campaign. Fans in Ireland can trade their out-of-shape glass for a chance to win a limited-edition Waterford Crystal Guinness pint before the transfer deadline at 23:00 on February 3 — enter now at TransferThatPint.com. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Many former footballers pundit like they played, Theo Walcott a choice example. Theo’s brain propels words out of his mouth as quick as his legs once carried him. He often embarks on one thought before he has fully formed the last, just as he was sometimes caught in two minds in the last third.
And in the studio, same as the pitch, there is not a hint of meanness about him. He was sometimes accused of being too nice during his career. In his new calling, will he bring the devil to power the clickbait machine?
Theo missed Ethan Nwaneri’s goal for Arsenal in the Champions League Wednesday night because he was already in bed, doubtless preparing as professionally as always for his early flight to Dublin. He is here doing promotional work for Guinness and obligingly works in regular references to their current TransferThatPint campaign. Eager to give everything for the people paying his wages.
He draws the comparison himself between how he has had to learn both his trades in the public glare. “It’s very similar. I pretty much went straight into the first team at 16. I was still developing myself, I couldn't do it in the background. And all of a sudden I finished my career and started something like this, instead of taking myself away for a while. I’m still learning and growing as well.”
Somehow, for a prodigy, he became an underestimated footballer, winning 47 caps, playing the bulk of a 19-year top-level career in the Champions League. On more than 100 occasions for Arsenal, he slowed himself down, found clarity, and found the net. Yet complaints about end product followed him around. “The way I played it was less structured, shall we say. I was a ball carrier, I took risks,” he says.
As he learns the punditry game, you sense his natural intelligence will yield plenty of clarity. And while the wars of words rage around him, he might just find a niche with measured decency.
Like everyone, he thinks Arsenal need a striker, but sees tradeoffs in the search for a clinical poacher. “Number nines are always a bit of a different character. They would generally go against, at times, what a manager is asking for, because they score the goals, they get the glory, they love that.” Is he thinking about Aubameyang and Arteta? Theo would be too nice to say.
He watches players in his position now, with similar gifts, and senses a handbrake pulled, often from the technical area. “I do feel now players play away from their strengths, just because of the way they are coached and told to do certain things. Particularly the wingers, because I always look at the wingers. Go and express yourself a bit more, but I don’t know if they can be a little bit restrained. Maybe people don’t take those risks any more.” Is he thinking about Gabriel Martinelli? He wouldn't dream of being that specific.
Ollie Watkins is his choice for Arsenal number nine, with Villa so far batting away interest. “He fits a lot of the way Arsenal play, his playing style, his behaviour off the field, everything about him as a man and a player. He is very well experienced in the England set-up, he is an Arsenal fan as well.”
But Walcott suspects Watkins will have to delve deep in the murkier side of the game to force Villa’s hand, something that would go against his own sense of decency.
“He probably won’t get another chance to join Arsenal. You have got to think that in the summer Arsenal may want to go for someone different. For me he needs to take a really good look at himself, if it can happen. But obviously with Duran moving on it’s going to be a little bit harder and he’ll probably have to do something out of character, which is never easy.”
It was with Arsene Wenger’s blessing Walcott eventually swapped Arsenal for Everton in the 2018 January transfer window.
“It was very respectful actually. I was at the club for 12 years and it was just a really good conversation with the manager and he was happy to let me go. I remember going to the training ground and picking up my boots in a bin bag at nine o’clock at night, with the security guard letting me in, that’s just how it was.”
As Walcott learns and grows in punditry at Sky Sports, it is alongside the guvnor of the clickbait machine, another man who pundits how he played.
“Roy is an interesting, bubbly character, he really is. I’ve learned a lot from him as well. He’s helped me massively, even the way I talk to him away from everything, settling into this role.
“It’s nice having a lot more balance to life. Football took me away from a lot that was important. Now I've got a really good balance and I enjoy it. I’m starting to do my coaching. It’s something that works for me. The family always moved around and now there’s no need for any of that any more. I’m really pleased how it’s going.”
"All the circus that came with it, I didn't want to be a part of," he once said, though he remained thankful to Eriksson for the opportunity.
Yet he emerged from the game unscathed, highly regarded, respected, not an enemy made.
"I was pleased with how my whole career with Arsenal went, and Everton and Southampton as well. Three FA Cups, scored over 100 goals for the club. Represented that new generation at the Emirates."
But then Theo took a professional, sensible approach to survival too.
"From day one when he first walked into that dressing room at Arsenal, we just knew this guy was different to what we’d experienced. We had certain characters who were at the club who had left, Van Persie, people like that. Mikel then brought back the attitude that we needed to have to be open and honest with each other. That’s why I felt he could always be a manager.”
"If they couldn’t get their main target it’s a good option, knowing maybe you could resell him at some point. I think he’d have to accept that he wouldn’t be a starter. I think they would look more at Liam Delap before Ferguson."
"He is a player that gets the best out of a lot of players because he is very unselfish. He is doing everything the manager is asking. But now we are asking him to do something a bit different, that special moment which he won’t be able to do because it’s not his natural gift. If you go on past history with Premier League winners, they’ve always had a good number nine."
"He’s gifted and he’s got that presence about him already. Arsenal are going to have to hold onto him because there are going to be a lot of clubs, particularly in Europe, after him."
"As a player he’s so passionate which is great to see. I love the connection he has with the fans, with the club, the people at Everton. It means so much to him. I can see him being a manager at some time."
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
