During this season, Theo Walcott is finally exploding and having the best season in his injury-plagued career so far, with some outstanding performances for the gunners right at the time when they were starting to think the talented forward was never going to reach the great level we all expected from him almost ten years ago.
Arriving at Emirates Stadium after starting his professional career at Southampton, Theo Walcott emerged as one of the most talented prospects in Europe and even if he didn’t make an impact right away, his great performances were enough for him to get the call from the three lions to play for his national team.
After making only 40 appearances for the gunners between 2013 and 2015, everyone was ready to give up on him even despite his notorious talent and skills. Everybody but his boss and mentor, the mythical and underestimated Arsene Wenger.
Walcott, who is rated at €18.9 Million by the CIES Football Observatory, never seemed to be ready to return and was totally incapable of being healthy, but every single time he was actually able to step on the pitch, he was a complete game changer, providing great pace with his dribbling skills and his outstanding speed.
After all the doubts surrounding Olivier Giroud’s talent to fill the shoes of legends as Thierry Henry, besides some injuries of his own, Wenger took a chance and started Walcott as striker this season, earning some vague criticism from the fans and the press, but once again the French manager would prove he’s a wise guy and one of the greatest soccer minds of all times.
Through seven games so far,Theo has thrived playing next to an inspired Alexis Sanchez, who’s having an excellent season for the gunners as well. The dynamic and speedy duo has made a mess of opposing defenses since the start of the season, as it’s practically impossible to keep up with two guys as fast and skilled as those guys.
That’s one of the reasons why Walcott has already scored five goals in just seven games this season, after scoring only nine, seven and six in the past three seasons. The other thing that has made this Walcott a renewed player is his determination and maturity, showing some great mental strength and looking healthier than ever.
However, Theo’s still in debt with his national team, as during Sam Allardyce’s brief tenure and a couple of games under interim boss Gareth Southgate, we haven’t seen the best Walcott yet. Nevertheless, his team hasn’t helped him at all, failing to create anything on the offensive end despite having arguably one of the best starting XIs in the world.
It’s still pretty early in the season, but if Arsenal is actually going to make a title run this time, they’re going to need this guy at his best, playing alongside his partner in crime Alexis and Mesut Ozil. So if Walcott can keep himself healthy through the season and Wenger doesn’t overload him with unnecessary minutes, we’ll definitely be looking at the best season of his career, finally proving everyone wrong.