Fading Walcott dropped but Wenger still keeps faith

Arsene Wenger dropped Theo Walcott on the eve of the second anniversary of his big-money move to Arsenal and confessed the teenager has yet to reach the heights he expected.

The Arsenal manager has not given up on the player he signed as a 16-year-old from Southampton in a package worth up to £12million but admits progress has been difficult since the teenager was fasttracked into the England squad for the World Cup and then not used.

'He will get where I expect him to be,' said Wenger. 'At the moment he is not, but I am not worried. He has qualities that will come out.

'I tried to force him to play wide but I am convinced he will be a central player. He is a direct player and times his runs well, so he will get a chance up front.'

Walcott, now 18, looked lost on the right wing against Birmingham last week and was substituted early in the second half.

'He was a little troubled,' said Wenger. 'It can happen at that age and it's part of the learning process to deal with that.

'Expectation levels are high and Theo has been projected into the spotlight early, but I still believe he is strong enough and good enough to make it.

'He is not happy when he doesn't play and you don't expect him to be but he is on the way to being in the team and I am confident that by the end of the season he will make that step. He wants to fulfil the ambitions he has and respond to the expectation levels people have for him.'

Three days before facing Birmingham, Walcott scored a crucial late equaliser against Spurs in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final but contributed little else on a night when the young Gunners were disappointing.

Wenger dismissed the idea of sending Walcott out on loan to develop because the Africa Cup of Nations and injuries has left him short of players. Robin van Persie will be out for three weeks after a recurrence of a thigh problem.

'I have interest from nearly all the other clubs outside the top four for all my players,' said the Frenchman.

'Everybody wants to take my players on loan — that is to use them but not to buy them.'

One player who went permanently was Lassana Diarra, who joined Portsmouth this week, five months after signing from Chelsea.

Wenger said: 'I regret that he's gone because he is a very good player and I wish him well. But I decided to open the door because I have players in this position.

'He was impatient because he had been in a situation like that at Chelsea. When he met the same problem again he panicked a little bit.'

Although Wenger admits he may yet be forced into the transfer market for a central defender, he is reluctant to stockpile players who will probably be superfluous when Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue and Alex Song are back from international duty and the injured players are fit.

Wenger's reluctance to splash out in January is in stark contrast to most of the clubs in the top flight, with yesterday's deals taking the total spent in the Barclays Premier League through the £90million barrier and Newcastle sure to add to that amount significantly.

'It's not easy for those players who don't play,' said Wenger. 'When you are in a good position during the African Nations Cup, you think: "We cannot spoil this good season, let's buy one or two", but when the others come back you have too many players. You never have the right balance.'