- Theo Walcott was taken to the 2006 World Cup in Germany as a 17-year-old
- He had never previously played in the Premier League prior to his call-up
- Liverpool correspondent LEWIS STEELE tells all on bombshell chat with Mo Salah – LISTEN NOW to It’s All Kicking Off! New episodes every Monday and Thursday
Theo Walcott has admitted it was wrong for England to pick him for the 2006 World Cup when he was only 17 years of age.
Sven-Goran Eriksson made the shock call to include the then-teenager in his squad, despite Walcott having never previously played in the Premier League.
And looking back almost 20 years on, Walcott feels it was not a wise move as he was left questioning himself as to why he had been included following intense media scrutiny.
‘When you say it out loud, it’s not right. It really isn’t,’ Walcott told Sky Sports on Monday night following West Ham‘s 2-0 win over Newcastle. ‘You think of players and we still call them young at 22, 23.
‘I’ve said this clearly for many years that I should never have gone – there were other players that had experience and had played at the highest level and I was new to the game.
He added: ‘All the circus that came with it, I didn’t want to be a part of. For me, it was all about playing and enjoying my football. It was a really tricky moment when I was consoling people like John Terry who won many things and had many caps for England. And I’m a 17-year-old boy who’s thinking I shouldn’t even be here.’
Walcott did not play a single minute at the tournament in Germany as England crashed out at the quarter-final stage after losing on penalties to Portugal.
The former Arsenal winger revealed that he could have got on the pitch in that last-eight clash but Wayne Rooney getting sent off scuppered those plans, as Walcott admitted that failing to play was a major ‘disappointment’ after Eriksson had taken a gamble on him.
‘The disappointment bit was not actually playing,’ Walcott said.
‘I might have got on had Waz not got sent off but that was the passion he played with. It didn’t work for me in the end but what I did learn from it was that I enjoyed the football.’
Walcott went on to join Arsenal straight after the World Cup and spent 12 years at the Emirates, winning three FA Cups during this period.
He also earned 47 caps for England but never played at a World Cup, and Jamie Carragher conceded that being thrust into the spotlight at an early age hindered Walcott’s development.
‘I don’t think it did you any favours as a player,’ Carragher claimed. ‘People are thinking “we’ve got the next Michael Owen or Pele won the World Cup at 17” and you’re thinking “he must be out of this world, world class, one of the best players England have ever seen”.
‘I think that put undue pressure on you in terms of your career.’
