Theo Walcott has never been able to fully exploit his potential for Arsenal or Everton. Did the call of the World Cup England ruin his progress?

The social media joke in Everton's 3-1 defeat of the Wolves last month was that the stray black cat, who had curiously entered the Goodison Park field, had run faster than Walcott.

The ironic applause of "sign up" rang out from local fans. In all fairness, the feline had traveled a considerable amount of ground in his five-minute film.

The comparisons with a fearless hookah are a reflection of the crossroads in which Walcott finds himself once again in his career, a course he has apparently failed to navigate several times.

In 2006, when he was 17, Walcott had locked his phone; he did not want any distractions while he was focusing on the theoretical part of his driving test.

This decision proved wise, because when he finally recovered, many messages congratulated him for the inclusion of Sven Goran Eriksson in the English team for the World Cup in Germany. This was not a hoax.

"I was shocked and surprised like everyone else. my eyes were coming out of my head, "said Walcott at the time. "My first thoughts were that I could not believe it was true. First of all the move to Arsenal and after that, it is incredible.

"Most of the players do not go to a World Cup, I'm lucky, and becoming the youngest player in England would be something special."

Walcott has not figured once. Instead, he seated himself on the bench, watching as a randomly chosen fan. A camcorder and sunscreen were used more often than his boots.

"I watched images that I had filmed and, honestly, it showed how young I was, how inexperienced I was and how much I was doing. was in my place. I was a child in the game of a man, "he said in a recent interview with Gary Lineker.

The famous WAG era was inaugurated. Walcott and his girlfriend had been unconsciously thrown into the spotlight.

In his autobiography, Steven Gerrad said that Walcott "did not have the right to be there". The situation was absurd.

Gerrard was right. Without having ever played a match for Arsenal and only 23 senior appearances for Southampton under his belt, the wait was huge.

And sometimes, he certainly had his moments, performances that looked like delivering this hype and promise.

The final result for his first goal of Arsenal during the final of the 2007 Carling Cup, this race against Liverpool in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, where he easily pbaded six players before setting up Emmanuel Adebayor .

A hat-trick in a 7-3 loss to Newcastle, two more in a 5-2 win over London's North Derby against Tottenham. There have been others too.

In Arsenal's history, only 14 players scored more goals than Walcott's 108 goals.

But the pressure remained, as well as that term; unsatisfied, he followed her as a bad smell.

When you are the next Thierry Henry, given his legendary shirt No. 14, this patience, the understanding that time presses, disappears.

After his brilliant hat-trick for England against Croatia, Arsene Wenger would not help, unintentionally, to lighten the weight of expectations.

"He is different [to Lionel Messi at that age] and I think he has more, said the boss of Arsenal.

"If you have to look for a weakness at Messi, you'd say it's his ability to run without the ball, behind the defender.

"When he takes the ball on his feet, he's like a Ferrari. But Theo is more of a guy who has the timing to run away and it's something that's hard to come by. "

It was hyperbole at its best and it does not matter to Walcott, he and no one will be like the Barcelona star. For some, Messi is the greatest of all time. This comparison with the majority is extremely unfair.

World Cup debut continues to elude him. Fabio Capello called to tell him that he would not be going to South Africa in 2010. A torn ACL left knee prevented him from leaving Brazil four years later. It is unlikely that he adds to his 47 selections.

Arsenal has a story with talented young English players coming up with a lot of promise, but stagnating for one reason or another. Francis Jeffers was considered the ultimate poacher when he left Everton. Nicknamed "the fox in the box" by Wenger, he never failed to realize his potential, a nomadic career followed.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, like Walcott, was transferred to the Southampton Gunners. Direct and slender, he also seemed to be losing himself, he had never taken a position for a long time at Arsenal.

Henry once said of him, "I have been watching him for a very long time and I still do not know how good he is."

Until a cruel knee injury did not rule out last season, Oxlade-Chamberlain had begun to show his qualities. Progressively, his move to Liverpool may have given food for thought to Walcott.

In some respects, it was a gradual decline, Walcott realized that his arrival at Arsenal, 12 years after his signature, was coming to an end. To say that he had found his comfort zone would not be an exaggeration, a new challenge was needed.

Everton's football under Sam Allardyce is probably not what he could have imagined, but it represented at least a change of scenery, a fresh start.

In 2006, Arsenal was essentially the best club he could have chosen. The way he was managed, the caliber of the players around him, a respected manager who had a philosophy of football that had once borne fruit, quickly favoring style at the expense of content. They also came to play in the final of the Champions League.

However, as Arsenal began to be less and less successful, Walcott would embody this fight. The fact that Henry, Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp and a large part of the "Invincible" team have gone seems to be sidelined. The fans needed a target, a focus of anger and they had it in Walcott. It was an easy choice, unlikely to complain, a controversial statement, contenting itself with where it stood.

Walcott turned 30 yesterday and finds himself again in the same puzzle he had at Arsenal.

The same incoherent and mediocre jibes in decision-making are marked, criticism abounds, but now it is no longer considered a prospect. These are his first years, they should be.

The scars of this call to the World Cup were not apparent at the time, but its repercussions were felt years later.