England Under-21 manager Stuart Pearce has added his voice to the debate over the development of Arsenal's £10 million teenager Theo Walcott and insisted it would be crazy to rush his progress - or write him off as a talent likely to remain unfulfilled.
In his second season with the Gunners, Walcott, 18, has taken part in 28 matches and scored five goals but completed his first full 90 minutes in the Premier League less than two weeks ago against Aston Villa - having scored twice the previous week at Birmingham before being taken off.
While some observers are now urging England boss Fabio Capello to promote him to the senior squad for the friendly against France in two weeks, others are concerned that Walcott's progress has been too slow since leaving Southampton in a multi-million pound deal.
But Pearce, who has picked him for every England Under-21 match since taking the role, said: "I've worked with Theo, he's a fantastic boy and very, very keen to learn.
"This season some people have told me Theo has not lived up to expectations - and some others have told me he's ready for the (England) seniors.
"It depends upon the point of view from any given Saturday on any given game and whatever journalist has turned up to view him.
"He scores two goals in a Champions League game and suddenly people are saying 'oh yes he's ready, pitch him in, throw him in'. It's all boom and bust, but for me it's not.
"If you think about it, Theo is still playing two or three years short (of the Under-21 limit). He's the second youngest in the group but he's played every game for me, started every one and that will bear fruit in the future.
"Whether Fabio will decide to pick him in the squad for the next senior game I've no idea but if not he'll be in my squad (to play Poland in a friendly at Molineux) because it's part of his development.
"For what he's done for Arsenal so far this season I think he'll be quite entitled to say at the end of the year that having played 'x' number of games for them at 18 or 19 and every England Under-21 game, that his development is still going quite well.
"I don't really think everybody is clamouring for him to be included in the senior squad and if they were I still think he's level-headed enough to deal with it.
"It's all about trying to divorce yourself from the boom-and-bust, short-term mentality which has seen us get a bloody nose in this country so many times before.
"And I think we should congratulate people who give talent time to come through and progress slowly."
Pearce was speaking at the latest session of the Football Association's Skills Programme, funded by Tesco and the National Sports Foundation, at Portsmouth.
The three-year project aims to improve the technical ability of one million children between the ages of five and 11 under the guidance of 66 specialist skills coaches. More than 230,000 youngsters have taken part since the launch last July.
While some observers are now urging England boss Fabio Capello to promote him to the senior squad for the friendly against France in two weeks, others are concerned that Walcott's progress has been too slow since leaving Southampton in a multi-million pound deal.
But Pearce, who has picked him for every England Under-21 match since taking the role, said: "I've worked with Theo, he's a fantastic boy and very, very keen to learn.
"This season some people have told me Theo has not lived up to expectations - and some others have told me he's ready for the (England) seniors.
"It depends upon the point of view from any given Saturday on any given game and whatever journalist has turned up to view him.
"He scores two goals in a Champions League game and suddenly people are saying 'oh yes he's ready, pitch him in, throw him in'. It's all boom and bust, but for me it's not.
"If you think about it, Theo is still playing two or three years short (of the Under-21 limit). He's the second youngest in the group but he's played every game for me, started every one and that will bear fruit in the future.
"Whether Fabio will decide to pick him in the squad for the next senior game I've no idea but if not he'll be in my squad (to play Poland in a friendly at Molineux) because it's part of his development.
"For what he's done for Arsenal so far this season I think he'll be quite entitled to say at the end of the year that having played 'x' number of games for them at 18 or 19 and every England Under-21 game, that his development is still going quite well.
"I don't really think everybody is clamouring for him to be included in the senior squad and if they were I still think he's level-headed enough to deal with it.
"It's all about trying to divorce yourself from the boom-and-bust, short-term mentality which has seen us get a bloody nose in this country so many times before.
"And I think we should congratulate people who give talent time to come through and progress slowly."
Pearce was speaking at the latest session of the Football Association's Skills Programme, funded by Tesco and the National Sports Foundation, at Portsmouth.
The three-year project aims to improve the technical ability of one million children between the ages of five and 11 under the guidance of 66 specialist skills coaches. More than 230,000 youngsters have taken part since the launch last July.
Copyright (c) Press Association
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