Wenger Not Surprised......

After a mixed start to his career at the Emirates Stadium following his £12 million move from Southampton, Walcott has begun to feature regularly for The Gunners' first team this campaign.

The 19-year old's progress was underlined with a spectacular performance for England on Wednesday night against Slaven Bilic's men, with the visitors seeing off the Croatians 4-1 in a game that many had predicted would end in defeat for Fabio Capello's side.

And Wenger, who has worked tirelessly to protect his young prodigy from the glare of the media after the big-money move to north London, believes this is just the beginning of what will be an illustrious career for the youngster while adding a note of caution for the nation's fans.

Not Surprised

"I am delighted of course," said Wenger. "I am not surprised because he is a player who has good timing with his runs and is a clinical finisher who can score goals.

"I always believed that he will be a fantastic player and I was never concerned - I know he can score goals and I know on the breaks he can be clinical. But for me, most of all is that he continues to develop as a team player.

"What happened yesterday we have to consider to be an exception. Even for players of 25, 26 to score three goals in an international game is a one-off. What is very good is that he has the confidence of [Fabio] Capello in that he plays at that level at 19 years of age.

"How good can he be? Don't set any limitations on any human being because once you have talent the rest is down to how much you want it and to how intelligent you are. I believe he is hungry in a quiet way - quiet determination - and he is intelligent."

"I listened to his interview after the game this morning and I was as pleased with his interview as with the three goals he scored," admitted Wenger. "I am not sure if I had scored three goals in an international game I would have given the same interview.

"That shows he is a good analyser, clever, well balanced, with his feet on the ground. Straight away after the game he analysed the consequences of what happened to him last night and how he has to deal with that.

"I feel that is more important for his career than the three goals he scored because that shows a great sign of intelligence and maturity."

source: Will Wood