Walcott: 'We can definitely win trophies'
Theo Walcott spoke to Arsenal.com shortly after signing a new long-term contract with Arsenal. Read on for the full transcript of his interview.
Theo, how pleased are you to have signed a new contract with Arsenal Football Club?
I’m absolutely delighted. The hard work over the years and the belief of the team, the boss and everyone on the staff, everyone has got behind me which is brilliant and it’s a shame I’ve had some injuries this year but hopefully I just want to have unbelievable seasons to come and hopefully get some trophies on the table.
Does this show how happy and settled you are with your game right now?
Yes I’m absolutely delighted. The way the boss has managed all the team, the players he brings in just settle into the team straight away and just be part of it. It’s fantastic to work with the best manager in the world I’d say, and the stadium behind me is just an unbelievable place to play at as well and I just want to continue playing my football at this club.
You’ve been here just over three years, how much have you learnt from Arsène Wenger?
It’s like I said before, just the way he talks to people he gets the best out of players. The players he brings in they just settle in and deal with the football straight away – we’ve got the likes of Andrey who’s settled straight away and he’s done a fantastic job for us and hopefully he can be part of a winning team next year.
You’re still a very young player but you’ve been playing at the top for some time. How much more is there to come from Theo Walcott?
I’m going to put my head down, there’s still loads of hard work to do still and that’s all I can do. I’ve got to keep on working hard, try and get in that starting line up every game and score goals which I’ll be judged on at the end. The main thing is to win trophies and I think this club can definitely win them.
That’s what I wanted to ask, despite that result against Manchester United in the Champions League this week you’re confident that silverware is on its way to Emirates Stadium?
Yes it just shows, the Semi-Finals of the FA Cup and Semi-Finals of the Champions League it’s a great achievement for us. We probably were the underdogs going into both games but we showed great character. This team has definitely got the chance to win something, especially for the fans as well because they’ve been absolutely terrific for us this season. We want to do it for them mainly and it would be brilliant to look back on the amount of trophies and medals you’ve won.
And what about trophies, are you confident despite what happened against Manchester United that Arsenal can bring in some trophies very soon?
Yes definitely the likes that we’ve got in this team – Andrey Arshavin, Ade, Robin, Cesc – I could go through the whole team I don’t like picking individual players out. We’ve hopefully got more chance of a challenge this year in the Premier League. Like myself signing more players and show what we can do next year and win things
With that in mind of course it’s important to keep the side together over the summer, and your signing is a part of that process.
Yes, hopefully the likes of me and Robin and everyone else hopefully if they get sorted out, it shows the belief I’ve got in this team because this team can go very far. Like I’ve said before the character that we’ve got, from the Roma game especially, that stands out this year. No-one expected us to win the penalty shoot-out but I saw something special there. Every time I have a warm down I look around the team and see there are some really good players here and I want to be part of it and hopefully we can be right up there with Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool and have a great challenge for it next year.
And finally it’s understandable that the fans are a little bit down at the moment. Have you a message of support, a ‘chin up’ message for them at the moment?
Well it’s in the past now so we need to forget about this game and look forward to the future and we’ve got loads of big games coming up. Hopefully we can get that third position, we’ve still got to believe in that but I’m definitely ready for next season, next season’s going to be a big year for me and the Club and I’m ready for it.
