Capello admits Walcott World Cup selection error

According to the Daily Telegraph, Fabio Capello has admitted he made a mistake in leaving Theo Walcott out of his squad for the 2010 World Cup. He is quoted in the paper as saying:

"He is one of the players after the World Cup I thought about a lot. He can play 25 minutes and be dangerous. I made a mistake not selecting him. He's one of the players who can make the difference. I should have taken him. This is one change I would have made for this World Cup. He's one of the players who is so fast he can make the difference in every moment."

He went on to say that the decision to leave Theo out had been a difficult one:

"It was a really difficult choice. Aaron Lennon was playing very well. He was at the top at that moment. I chose Lennon and not Theo for this reason. Lennon was perfect. I decided after Austria training and the Japan game. But then Lennon was injured after two games."

Capello was also full of praise for Jack Wilshere and revealed that he sees a role for him with England as a deep-lying midfielder.

"Wilshere is the best young player. He now plays all the time with Arsenal. If you play with Arsenal, you are a really good player because Arsène Wenger likes good players.

"I want to put him in this position in front of the back four. I have to decide because he's so young, he would stay alone in midfield and that can be dangerous.

"I think he's mature enough to play this role. He's a really interesting player. When he started, in some moments he played without big confidence. He was timid, shy. Now every game he improves a lot, he plays with confidence, without fear and he tackles to win." 

In the long run, I think that Arsene Wenger sees Wilshere as being a more attacking player in the mould of Fabregas. Cesc started his Arsenal career in the deeper-lying role that Wilshere is currently playing before moving further forward, and I believe that he has the same plans for Wilshere. He has done great in his current position but all of us who have seen him in reserve and friendly matches know that he is capable of so much more attacking wise.

It's good to see Capello being so positive about Arsenal players though. The Sun, the Daily Mail and Sky should take note. They have been constant in their criticism of Arsenal for not having any English players, despite doing more to develop young English talent than possibly any other club, while other teams have escaped criticism despite the fact that they have bought most of their English players and have done little to develop English football.

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Capello admits Walcott World Cup selection error