Theo Walcott Reveals Why He Retired From Football At 34-Year-Old

Former Arsenal and English winger, Theo Walcott has revealed that he decided to retire from professional football because he wants to “experience life”.

The 34-year-old England international who followed Southampton down into relegation last season, admitted that leaving football is a scary choice but he wants to experience other things in life.

Theo Walcott who started his professional football career at Arsenal after graduating from Southampton’s academy, made 397 Premier League appearances throughout a 23-year football career. He scored a total of 80 league goals and provided 56 assists for Arsenal, Everton, and Southampton.

In his 13 years at Arsenal, the once best football talent in the world, managed to win three FA Cup titles and two Community Shields.

He announced himself on the world stage when former England coach Sven Goran Eriksson took him to the 2006 FIFA World Cup at just 17 years old.

During his ten-year international career, Theo Walcott played 47 times for England and scored eight goals.

Walcott played 20 times in the Premier League and scored three goals for Southampton last season which were not enough to keep the team in the elite division. He claims he received offers from several clubs to continue playing, but his “heart isn’t committed” to it, and had to retire from the game.

“I’m officially going to be hanging up my boots. It’s very scary, I can’t lie,” Theo Walcott told Gary Neville on The Overlap podcast

“It’s scary because football’s all I’ve known from the age of 16 or even younger. I want to try new things I never experienced as a kid – I missed out on a lot.

“I just feel like I want to experience life – things [usually] revolve around football for me.”

Walcott added, “I’ve had offers abroad and from some very good Championship teams. There’s been some Saudi offers but it’s not where I see myself playing, to be honest.

“Nothing against the money or the league but if my heart isn’t into playing football it’s not fair on the clubs, not fair on me.”