Walcott is key to future, says Ferdinand

England vice-captain hails 'nice arrogance' as Arsenal teenager comes of age He has, according to Rio Ferdinand, Cristiano Ronaldo's eye for goal, and Michael Owen's mentality. Theo Walcott also possesses a "nice arrogance", England's vice-captain claimed, that marks him out as a player integral to his country's future fortunes. Ferdinand knows how that feels. Little more than six months after signing his first professional contract, he was asked by the England head coach, Terry Venables, to train with the Euro '96 squad and there are parallels in how Walcott was taken to the last World Cup by Sven Goran Eriksson. Except that the Arsenal midfielder-cum-striker, as is astonishing even now, was in the full squad. The centre-half puts up a spirited defence of Eriksson's decision. "He can take quite a lot of credit for having the... [read full story]