Former Southampton and Arsenal winger Theo Walcott announces retirement despite Saudi offers
Former Southampton, Arsenal and Everton forward Theo Walcott is hanging up his boots on a career that spanned 18 seasons and saw him earn 47 senior caps for England
Theo Walcott has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 34.
The former Southampton and Arsenal forward announced his decision on Friday following a playing career that spanned 18 seasons and saw him earn 47 caps for England.
Walcott made his senior debut at Saints in 2005 before moving to join Arsenal where he made 397 appearances, winning two FA Cups and two Community Shields during his time in north London.
A brief move to Everton followed his time with the Gunners before Walcott made a homecoming to the south coast in 2020 where he played for three seasons before leaving at the end of his contract this year.
Announcing his decision to end his playing career on Sky Sports’ The Overlap, he said: “I’m officially going to be hanging up my boots. It’s very scary, I can’t lie. It’s scary because football’s all I’ve known from the age of 16 or even younger. I want to try new things I never experienced as a kid – I missed out on a lot.
“I just feel like I want to experience life – things (usually) revolve around football for me.”
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“There has been some Saudi offers, but I just don’t feel like that is somewhere where I want to see myself playing,” he continued.
“(I’ve got) nothing against the money or the league – I just feel like, right now, if my heart is not into football it’s not fair on the clubs or on me. I’m not going to earn myself a contract where I’m not going to be putting 100 per cent into it.
“It’s not that I’ve fallen out of love with the game. It’s (that) my heart isn’t going to be fully committed to playing the game. I kind of like the fact I stopped at Southampton. I started there and I’ve stopped there. It sits nicely with me. My last ever goal was against Arsenal – for me, that’s a nice moment and I’m proud of that.”
Asked whether he is worried about what would come next for him after retirement, Walcott added: “The thing that’s helped me massively, and I think should help a lot of players, is therapy. I’ve been speaking to therapists for many years and still do now today.
“I think it’s important in any sort of work that you do to have a different perspective from someone else to talk to about anything. If you can find someone in that role that can help you, you’ll be in your best frame of mind to look after other people.”