Theo Walcott could never come out of the shadows of the number 14 jersey at Arsenal and expectations to emulate his predecessor.
Perspective is a funny thing, and those making real-time decisions never have its luxury. But even without its probing lens, it was safe to say that 2006 marked a landmark year of sorts for Arsenal Football Club, if only because of the end of an era and the start of a new one.
Their last trophy had been the FA Cup in 2005, the ten-game clean sheet run leading up to the Champions League final versus Barcelona hadn’t been short on quality, and there was a good mix of youth and experience. What people didn’t know then was that the club were embarking upon a period of nine trophy-less seasons. Highbury was history, and with the new stadium debts to pay off and the Invincibles melting away, Cesc Fabregas had already been introduced as a future Viera replacement, while Gael Clichy served as Ashley Cole’s understudy, and there was also Robin van Persie.
The fact that 16-year-old Theo Walcott helped create the first goal to set the Emirates Years rolling was significant. Signed from Southampton in January 2006 for a world-record fee, he was projected to be one of the pillars of this new team despite playing only 12 games at the senior level. One of the top three finalists for the 2005 BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year, Theo had got a lucky ticket to Germany with the World Cup squad, without playing a minute of Premier League football.