While most of the Arsenal first-team group have already returned to pre-season training, Walcott has been given extra time off to recover from a busy summer of international duty with the England Under-21s, who reached the European Championships final.

Holland international Robin van Persie, now signed up on a new, long-term deal, and captain Cesc Fabregas, who was away with Spain at the Confederations Cup, are also scheduled to link up with the squad ahead of the training camp in Austria, which will involve three matches before returning to London for the Emirates Cup.

Walcott knows when the action starts for real at Everton on August 15, Arsene Wenger's men have to prove they can turn potential into consistent results over the course of the campaign.

"It was a good learning curve for us all, but next year it is all about the trophies," Walcott said in the July edition of the official Arsenal magazine.

"Hopefully we have had the years of experience now and can bring something back for the fans.

"For me it was an up-and-down season - you are never really going to have a perfect one, but I am happy that my [shoulder] injury has gone so that I can come back to Arsenal and win things."

Walcott was, like Fabregas, one of the Gunners' key men to miss a large chunk of the last campaign, when Arsenal did recover some form to reach the semi-finals of both the Champions League and FA Cup.

With a fully fit squad to chose from, which could soon include Czech winger Tomas Rosicky, the England forward is confident Arsenal can compete.

"We had a bad spell mid-season and having so many injuries did not help," Walcott said.

"It you take five or six players out of Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea teams they are going to struggle to get points too.

"The players who came in did very well though, and in the end we just got our heads down, took things game by game and got the points to finish fourth very comfortably in the end."

So far, Wenger has added only Belgium defender Thomas Vermaelen to his first-team squad, although the club have moved to tie up youngsters Kieran Gibbs, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere on long-term deals.

Goalkeeper Manuel Almunia, though, feels the Gunners will need "more than youth" if they are to challenge for the top honours once again.

"It is great to have a young team, but youth does not give you titles," the 32-year-old Spaniard told Champions magazine.

"To go a step further players need to demand more of themselves, be more professional, braver in big games.

"We need the manager to work harder to get what we need, the club to make an extra effort to make us more competitive."

Wenger is certainly keen to further bolster his midfield options to support Fabregas, who continues to be linked with a move to Barcelona or Real Madrid despite committing himself to Arsenal.

Brazilian Felipe Melo has a £21.5million release clause in his contract with Fiorentina, yet even though a proposed move to Juventus now appears in doubt, it remains to be seen whether the Emirates Stadium club would be prepared to meet that valuation, or even include a player trade, with Emmanuel Eboue fancied by the Serie A club.

At some £12m, a swoop for Udinese's Swiss international Gokhan Inler, a long-time target of Wenger, may also prove too expensive.

A more likely prospect would see St Etienne midfielder Blaise Matuidi, who is just 22 and available for around £2.5m.

Arsenal, meanwhile, confirmed American Stan Kroenke has slightly increased his overall stake in the club's parent holding company to 28.58% with the purchase of 160 ordinary shares - at a cost of some £1.36millon.

Should the US entrepreneur reach the 30% threshold, his group would, under financial regulations, automatically trigger a formal takeover bid.

Earlier this week, Arsenal's board decided against a proposed rights issue to generate new cash for debt reduction and player transfers - which was put forward and underwritten by Russian Alisher Usmanov, the club's second-biggest stakeholder.