Theo Walcott may admit to regrets over the way his time at Arsenal ended, but there are none over the decision he believes will resurrect his career.

Everton’s £20m signing revealed - with just a hint of despair - that his departure from the club he served for 12 years had a touch of indignity about it, as he stole out late into the night, with his belongings stuffed into a bin bag.

There were only a couple of security guards there to wave him off, a sad end to a Gunners era that had seen him perform for so long at the top level, despite the almost incessant suggestion in some quarters it should have delivered more.

Yet if he would have changed that moment, the England star recognises that everything which now follows is necessary, because becoming an outcast at the Emirates had tainted his football at what should be the very height of his career.

Theo Walcott has made the move to Everton, lured by the promise of a better chance to shine (
Image:
Everton FC)
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“When I left I wouldn’t have liked to have gone at night and picked up all the stuff on my own, but that is how it is,” he explained with a shrug.

“I had to get my stuff quickly. There was a sense of people being surprised at how quickly it happened and I had to go at night, it was quiet there – there were just a couple of security guards around.

“All I had to put my boots in were some bin bags... it wasn’t the way I would have wanted to have left, but knowing it wasn’t official yet, that no one knew about it, and I had a long way to travel, I had to find time to go in.”

Walcott is checked over by the Everton medical staff (
Image:
theowalcott/Instagram)

Walcott explained that the club’s chief executive Ivan Gazidis has suggested Arsenal will say goodbye properly when Everton travel to the Emirates on February 3, so the fans who saw him grow from a boy into a man at the club can send him off in style.

Yet the 28-year-old knew it was time to go after being cast into the Gunners wilderness at the end of last season, and then further into the shadows when the new campaign started.

And while he would never criticise Arsene Wenger – “I have such great respect for him” - the player who was plunged into the world of celebrity when Sven Goran Eriksson recklessly selected him to go the World Cup with England at 16, hinted that he needed a new voice to get the best out of him.

Walcott, who left Arsenal with his boots in bin bags, poses as a Toffees player (
Image:
Everton FC)

The criticism of Wenger in recent years is that he has stopped developing his players in the spectacular manner which made Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry genuine world class stars, and Walcott admitted he came to Everton because of Sam Allardyce’s man-management.

“The manager seems to get that out of the players, he seems to get the best out of you. At this moment of time in my career I need that. Still being only 28, it’s young and the best years are to come I believe,” he explained.

Walcott played under Allardyce when he was so briefly in charge of England, and that experience again suggested there was more to learn, even after everything he has been through at Arsenal.

Walcott hasn't a bad word to say about Arsene Wenger (
Image:
PA)

He enjoyed the experience with England when his new boss was in charge, he said, and he tellingly added: “I just felt it was the enjoyment of the training every day, a work ethic, a desire to improve players.

“And also being straight to the point with what he wants from a player and a team. I like that. You sense when he came to Everton, when you come to a club in a difficult stage it is hard to boost your players but he got the results.”

Walcott knew he could have sat out the remaining 18 months on his contract and then moved on a free transfer, but he could not face the humiliation of being an Arsenal outcast, after experiencing such highs at the club.

On Wenger, Walcott said: “I have such great respect for him” (
Image:
Getty Images)

“That bit of enjoyment might not have been there obviously for the last few months,” he added.

“Not being part of something, it’s quite hard to take when you have been a club for such a long time then not knowing if you are really part of it anymore and trying to think where the next place is to go.

“I haven’t been on the field with my team, that is what you want as a footballer, you want to go out there and play and express yourself.”

In the end, Walcott forced the issue, even though Allardyce explained that Wenger probably didn’t want to lose the forward, even if he didn’t want to pick him often enough.

Walcott is excited to show Everton fans what he has to offer (
Image:
Everton FC)

Asked what tells him the England man still has the desire to play at the top level, his new Everton boss replied firmly: “I have no doubt about his hunger because he has decided to move.

“Theo insisted to Arsene he needed to let him go. I don’t think Arsene would want to lose a player of his quality and patience, but the frustration of his achievements last season and his lack of football this season was his breaking point.”

For Walcott, there is pain at leaving, but also a determination to prove he is not heading further into the wilderness. “I have felt everything is right up to now on how to leave. You get some players and it has scarred them maybe, but I haven’t got a sense of that at all.

“I’m very ambitious. I don’t see it as a step down, I see it as an opportunity to step forward and help Everton get to where it should be and I believe can be.”