London – Arsenal winger Theo Walcott has revealed that he is making positive progress in his bid to recover from a cruciate ligament injury that brought his season to a premature end.
The 24-year-old England international jarred his knee during Arsenal's 2-0 FA Cup win over Tottenham Hotspur in January and subsequently learnt that the injury would rule him out of this year's World Cup in Brazil.
However, seven weeks after undergoing surgery he is walking again, and he says that he was not interested in cutting corners in a bid to return to fitness in time for the World Cup.
“It has taken me a while to get the walking right, but it is nearly there,” he said, in comments reported by several British newspapers on Saturday.
“At the moment, I am taking it week by week and trying to hit targets. I can't do much yet. I don't want to be pushing the injury and not be 100 percent and cause other injuries.
“I was never tempted by any of the offers from people saying they could get me fit for the World Cup. I followed the club's advice. I went to a consultant in London and it was a great decision.”
Walcott came in for criticism for making a '2-0' gesture to Spurs fans with his fingers as he was being stretchered off following his injury, but he said that he has no regrets about the incident.
“No, I don't regret it at all,” he said. “All the stewards were getting stuff peppered at them even before. Me and Tottenham, you always have that banter. They do it to me, I do it to them. It's just a bit of fun really.
“I've seen some Tottenham fans since then and they have said, 'If it was one of our players (making the gesture), I would have loved it.'“ – Sapa-AFP