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England team player profile - Theo Walcott

Theo James Walcott was born on 16th March 1989 in Stanmore, London and spent his early life growing up in the village of Compton near Newbury in Berkshire, England. Theo Walcott attended the Downs Secondary school and as a youngster played for local side AFC Newbury. In his one season Theo Walcott managed to score more than 100 goals for AFC Newbury before moving on to play for Swindon Town and then Southampton youth teams. As a younster Theo Walcott was such a promising player that Nike agreed a sponsorship deal with him as a fourteen year old. Following a successful period with the Southampton youth team Theo Walcott first appeared for the senior side in August 2005 in a Championship match against Wolverhampton Wanderers where he became the youngest player to play for the south coast side at the age of just 16 years and 143 days.

Theo Walcott's first senior goal came on 18th October in a Championship match at Leeds United and by the end of the 05/06 season he had scored 4 goals in 21 appearances for Southampton affording him a rapid rise to fame. It was inevitable that Theo Walcott's ability would come to the attention of England's premier league clubs and his name was soon linked with the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool FC, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. In January 2006 after much speculation Theo Walcott signed for premier league side Arsenal for an eventual fee of £9.1million making Theo Walcott the most expensive 16 year old in British football history. The next milestone in Theo Walcott's career came on 30th May 2006 when he became the youngest player to play for England in a friendly against Hungary. He was then surprisingly included in Sven Goran Eriksson's England squad for the Germany 2006 World Cup Finals however he never played during the tournament.

Theo Walcott's premier League debut came on 19th August 2006, the opening day of the 06/07 season, when he came on as a substitute against Aston Villa. His Champions League début came in the second leg of Arsenal's third qualifying round match against Dinamo Zagreb, where he became the youngest ever Arsenal player to appear in European competition. Theo Walcott's first goal for Arsenal came in the 2007 League Cup Final against Chelsea which Arsenal eventually lost 2-1. By the end of the 06/07 season Theo Walcott had scored 1 goal in 32 appearances for Arsenal which increased to 7 goals in 39 appearances in the following 07/08 season. On 10th September 2008 Theo Walcott scored his first senior international goals with a hat-trick against Croatia in a 2010 World Cup qualifying match.