Arsenal striker Theo Walcott was a surprise selection in the England squad for the World Cup 2006. Four years later, he failed to make the final squad.

Explaining why the 21-year old was not selected, England’s manager Fabio Capello revealed that the decision was hard to take but he feels that the youngster is yet to fully recover from shoulder problems and is no longer the player he was before suffering the injury.

The Italian added how he needed to choose the best of the best from the country and the Arsenal player simply was not fit enough, meaning that the Italian finally opted for the likes of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Aaron Lennon. The omission was not easy to accept for the striker but he showed the right mentality when asked about it.

The 21-year old in fact explained that he is “very disappointed” but also added how he respects the decision of the Italian, wishing the team the best of luck.

On not selecting Theo, Capello said:

It was a really hard decision for me.

I know Theo Walcott was really important in the games we played in qualification. But after his operation on his shoulder he did not play a lot of games. He was not the same player we knew before the injury.

I hope that he will be fit and over injury and he will be back in the team for the other qualifiers (Euro 2012). It was hard for me, but we had to choose the best players for the squad.