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.

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

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.

IAN KINGTON/Getty Images

A breakthrough was made in the 2010-11 season, and for the next three seasons, Walcott scored regularly and hinted that he might have been worth the wait; his peak came in the 2012-13 campaign, when he managed his best-ever haul of 21 goals in all competitions.

But since then, Walcott has regressed. A cruciate ligament injury in 2014 did not help, and though there have been tantalising flashes of brilliance, he has become more of a solid if unspectacular player, too often flirting with mediocrity.

He had come to look like an emblematic player who was part of the problem, not the solution, in Arsenal's struggles to win their first title since 2004.

No one doubts his talent, but while his pace and commitment are usually on display, he often lacks the intelligence and execution that marks the best players.

Last season, his record of nine goals in 42 games was not enough for him to earn a place in an average England squad for Euro 2016.

But possibly stung by this embarrassment and his consequent long summer at home, Walcott has returned as a new player this season.

In eight games so far this term, Walcott has scored five goals and contributed two assists.

Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

"I believe more the change of Theo Walcott is his attitude this season," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said in September, per James Benge of the London Evening Standard. "He’s ready to fight, commit, and you know that straightaway he gets the crowd behind him. Theo Walcott of that stature is a completely different player."

At 27, Walcott likely realised he had to break his cycle of underachievement; he was running out of second chances.

Walcott does appear sharper this season, and his greater commitment to defensive duties—as reported by Matt Law the Daily Telegraph, Wenger remarked, “He used to be 90 per cent forward and 10 per cent defending. Today he is 50-50"—has had the dual effect of improving his fitness and attacking prowess.

The ex-Southampton man's form has been helped by his manager appearing to finally settle on a position for him and ending the constant swapping between up front and the right wing. 

“The problem with Theo is he wants to play on the right and through the middle," Wenger said earlier this year, as reported by Adrian Kajumba for the Daily Mirror. He continued:

"

You have to fix yourself somewhere. When he doesn’t go through the middle, he thinks maybe for me it’s better on the right. It’s true that at some stage I fixed him more through the middle, because of the quality of his runs, the intelligence of his runs, and he has improved a lot his finishing.

"

But the Frenchman has decided to play Alexis Sanchez through the middle and move Walcott back out to the right, which has been hugely effective for both so far this season.

Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Witness the manner in which the 27-year-old has ghosted in from the right side to score some of his goals this season.

But it is only October, which is no time of the season to celebrate a genuine revival. That time is May, and Walcott has already known many false dawns over the last decade.

The challenge is to maintain his form, hunger and fitness throughout the next seven months and transform the perception of himself from good to great.

Though he didn’t play Walcott at the World Cup in 2006, former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson once boasted England fans would be sending him flowers in the future for helping nurture his talent.

It has taken 10 years, but if Walcott builds on his start to the season, Arsenal fans might soon be willing to make a trip to the florist.