---
title: "Is Time Running Out For Gunners Star?"
canonical: "https://readarsenal.com/2016/04/25/is-time-running-out-for-gunners-star/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Alex Vergette"
section: "Features"
published: "2016-04-25T14:03:50Z"
modified: "2016-04-25T14:03:50Z"
---

# Is Time Running Out For Gunners Star?

When the then 16-year-old Theo Walcott was named as part of England’s World Cup squad back in 2006, it led many to wonder, whether Sven-Goran Eriksson had seen something in him that the rest of us had missed. It seemed that Walcott was destined for stardom when he became the youngest player in England history to score a hat-trick.

A prodigious talent at Southampton, Arsenal soon came calling, and Walcott shifted to the capital for a fee of £5million, where he was expected to learn his trade as both a winger and as a striker under the tutelage of Arsene Wenger. Fast forward a decade, and football fanatics are wondering if Walcott liftoff is ever going to happen.

Time after time, the excuses have poured in over the 27-year-olds shortcomings. Injuries, immaturity, and Arsenal’s style of play, have all been used as a backup over Walcott’s inability to stay consistent as a player. His lightning speed, as his primary weapon, needs to be teamed with an eye for opportunity, whether it be, scoring or assisting. As time has gone by, Walcott has shown his discomfort at playing on the wing, where assisting is a necessity, and a physical ineptitude as a striker, failing to command both the ball and the box in the same style attributed to other strikers.

![Jan Kruger/Getty Images Sport](https://cdn.readeverything.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/523793758.jpg)

He has had his chances, there can be no doubt. In 2012/13 season, he appeared 43 times in all competitions, finding the net on 21 occasions. In only two other seasons, before, has he hit double figures – in 2010/11, and 2011/12 (13 and 11 goals respectively)

His insistence on playing as an out-and-out striker has been audible since he moved to the Emirates, but he has failed to justify such an insistence, regularly finding himself being played out on the wing, where his speed causes so many problems, or being replaced as strikers such as Robin van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor and Olivier Giroud have come and gone before him.

It should now be the time to question if Arsenal is the best place for Walcott. When questioned about the former Southampton star’s future in London, Arsene Wenger [responded with](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/10256275/theo-walcott-facing-uncertain-future-at-arsenal), ‘I don’t know yet. I think he has gone through a bad spell. He has responded very well. Even when he comes on now, you see he is motivated and focused. Let’s see how well he finishes the season now.’

![Dan Mullan/Getty Images Sport](https://cdn.readeverything.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/515690094.jpg)

Even Wenger has tiptoed around the issue of Walcott’s failure to demonstrate his prowess as an out-and-out striker, and perhaps both parties should start looking for an alternative solution, certainly if Walcott harbours any ambition to make it in Roy Hodgson’s World Cup squad, where so far he has not even been mentioned as a possibility.

Walcott still has time on his side, but with both he and Giroud misfiring yet again, how long before Wenger brings down the curtain on Walcott’s Gunners career.