“Walcott has head start on Messi:” Wenger

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes that his young striker Theo Walcott has a head start on Argentinian star Lionel Messi.

At a press conference on Friday, Wenger claimed that Walcott is ‘different’ to Messi when he was his age, and in fact ‘more’ than Barcelona’s forward.

“If you have to look for a weakness in Messi you would say it is his ability to run without the ball, behind the defender.

“When he takes the ball to his feet he’s like a Ferrari. But Theo is more a guy who has the timing to run off the ball and that is something that is difficult to find.

“We had Marc Overmars who was especially good at that and I’m a great, great lover of movement off the ball.”

Walcott will make an appearance in Arsenal’s game with Everton this weekend, but isn’t expected to play the whole ninety minutes.