The 16-year-old is rightly regarded as the hottest teenage talent in England, because of his pace and potential, but the boy dubbed the new Thierry Henry is not yet a Premiership-quality predator, as his display in Southampton’s 1-0 defeat by Queens Park Rangers showed.
Turning out for the Saints is a thankless task anyway these days as the South Coast side inflicted a fifth defeat in six league matches on its long-suffering fans, who nevertheless outsung their Rangers counterparts, so the teenager can hardly be blamed for wanting to head east along the M3 to Arsenal’s training ground.
It was easy to see why Walcott had caught the imagination of Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager. There was a glorious few seconds in the second half when super-fast feet beat one man, a second and a third before a promising move came to an abrupt end with a pass to a less gifted colleague.
But should this turn out to be his farewell performance in a Saints shirt, and there is always the possibility that he will be sold and loaned straight back, then it will be a costly double miss soon after Rangers had gone ahead that will linger the longest.
The chance had been fashioned by another academy product, Dexter Blackstock, who stuck out a leg to divert the ball into his strike partner’s path. QPR goalkeeper Simon Royce parried Walcott’s initial, well-struck effort but was helpless as the ball rebounded straight back to the prodigy, who wastefully fired over.
Advertisement
Rangers manager Ian Holloway admitted afterwards he had been surprised Walcott had even taken part such was the intensity of his press coverage but George Burley, his Southampton counterpart, was adamant afterwards that the teenager might yet remain on the South Coast.
“Nothing has changed at all as far as I am aware,” he insisted, with a twinkle in his eye that all but confirmed he was happy with a leading role in a post-match pantomime. “As for him being sold and coming back on loan, we are not even thinking about that. We are planning ahead with Theo at the club. We naturally want to keep him for as long as possible.” The game was decided by one clumsy first-half moment when Danny Higginbotham, who had survived an earlier handball shout, barged Gareth Ainsworth over and Richard Langley sent Paul Smith, Antti Niemi’s successor between the Saints sticks, the wrong way from the penalty spot.
Southampton applied immense pressure in the final half-hour but skipper Nigel Quashie wasted a penalty he had won himself by planting it against a post. The award, for Steve Lomas’s challenge on the former Rangers midfielder, had followed a moment of Walcott magic on the by-line, but it was that kind of day for the Saints. That kind of season in fact.
STAR MAN: Marcus Bignot (QPR)
Player ratings: QPR: Royce 7, Bignot 8, Shittu 8, Santos 8 (Taylor 78min, 5), Rose 7, Ainsworth 6 (Donnelly 88min, 5), Lomas 6, Langley 7, Cook 7, Furlong 7, Baidoo 7 (Moore 84min, 5)
Advertisement
Southampton: Smith 7, Prutton 6, Lundekvam 6, Powell 6, Higginbotham 5, Dyer 6 (Fuller h-t, 5), Oakley 6, Quashie 6, Belmadi 5, Walcott 6, Blackstock 6 (Jones 68min, 5)
Scorer: QPR: Langley 21 pen
Referee: M Jones
Attendance: 15,494