Former Arsenal star Theo Walcott has been telling FourFourTwo exclusively about the impact that the Invincibles had on him as a person.
The winger joined the Gunners from Southampton in January 2006. Walcott famously went to the World Cup that summer but didn't feature for Arsenal during the second half of the 2005/06 season, instead training with the bulk of the side that went unbeaten for 49 games before featuring more the following season.
Reflecting on working every day alongside the likes of Thierry Henry, Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell, Robert Pires and others, Walcott told FFT that he feels extremely blessed for the opportunity – but that at such a young age, being around those players had a massive impact on his character as well as his career.
“Looking back at that experience, I was coming in at such a young age – people talk about young footballers being 23, 24, and I was just 16, 17,” he says now. “I was coming into a completely new environment, playing with some of these players. I was quite shy as a kid back then, I really was, and at times, I just wanted the ball and to express myself.
“I look back on life as just being about experiences and I managed to live an experience that not many people get to live and I’m grateful for that. The things I learned from those players, just on a day to day. The way that they improved me in training each and every day: I was training with Ashley Cole, one of the best left-backs that’s ever blessed this Earth.
“For me, that experience didn’t just make me a better player, it made me a better person as well. Being with Arsene, having that support from him, that was really key at that time, and that age… I think I turned out OK in the end!”
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