Can Theo Walcott Finally Fulfil His Potential for Arsenal This Season?

Over the course of the last decade, Theo Walcott has reluctantly come to symbolise Arsenal: good but never quite good enough. 

Walcott did not make his Arsenal debut until August 2006, so he knows nothing about playing at Highbury, routinely winning the Premier League title and reaching the Champions League final.

Instead, Walcott has been a constant presence in a less successful Arsenal era, playing only at the Emirates Stadium with lesser players, trapped in a cycle of finishing in the top four but never being involved in a sustained title challenge.

Walcott has posed for many of those derided dressing-room selfies, but rarely have they included a major trophy, and after over 10 years of service, he has won just two FA Cups.

Pity the prodigiously talented, for they will forever be judged by what we hoped they would become, rather than what they did become.

Wayne Rooney has never managed to shrug off the whiff of disappointment that he didn’t make good on all that youthful promise and keep pace with former United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo. He was once considered the better of the pair.

And so it is with Walcott, as he too has never shaken off the stain of unfulfilled potential that has clung to him since he was selected for the 2006 World Cup finals at the age of only 17.

He was the future; he was quick, fearless and supremely talented. But he didn’t feature for England at that tournament in Germany, and the excitement surrounding him quickly tapered off back home.

He fittingly made his Arsenal bow in their first game at the Emirates, but still so young, his progress was slow.

In his first four seasons, Wenger persisted in using him, but a return of 18 goals in 136 games showed an individual struggling to adapt to the demands of playing for the Gunners.

A breakthrough was made in the 2010-11 season, and for the next three …

continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com