Arsene Wenger has hailed the signing of Theo Walcott, claiming that at Arsenal he’s become a man.

Although I’m sure the boss means mentally, the winger has quite literally grown from a boy into an adult with us. We signed the 26-year-old from Southampton in 2006 when he was just 16 for an initial fee of £5m.

The pacey forward was destined for great things and went on to feature 16 times in the Premier League for the senior team during his first season. This increased to 25 appearances the next season, and by the 2011/12 season he was making 46 appearances in all competitions and scoring into double-digits.

However, injury problems soon reared their ugly head. Cruciate knee ligament damage and other complications meant he was sidelined for most of last season.

Fortunately, at the end of last season, things started to look up for Walcott and he even scored in our FA Cup final against Aston Villa.

“He has become very mature, he has gone through difficult periods so he is a very strong man,” said Wenger. “He is a man today, when he arrived here he was a boy, a little boy who discovered a world where he did not know anything about it.

“Of course he had to go through bad injuries and disappointments and I believe he is a man today, a man who knows what he wants and has been faithful to our club. It was a great signing.”

Although the forward hasn’t started in either of our two matches so far, after signing a new contract with us, hopefully he’ll become more of a permanent feature on the team sheet.