Theo Walcott is aiming to help Southampton's academy players following his return to the club.

Walcott, now 31, burst onto the scene at St Mary's as a 16-year-old in 2005 and became the club's youngest-ever goal scorer, earning a move to Arsenal where he went on to make 397 appearances.

Now returning to where it all began on a season-long loan from Everton, the academy graduate is looking to offer an experienced head in the dressing room.

He told the Saints website, “There was always a lot of talk from the academy side of things because of how good the academy has been at developing players, and I was one of those lucky ones that managed to get through.

“Now, hopefully I can repay all the faith and kindness I had from those days into now and make this team push on a lot further than they have already.

“The academy side of things was the main thing that attracted me to Southampton as a 10-year-old, and I feel like I made the right decision then and am making the right decision now.

“I've always been the person that you can come to me to talk about anything, it doesn't have to be football related.

“I feel like if you're working as hard as you can on the training field and people see me working hard, then you can inspire them to compete as well. Hopefully. I can push people on to get them to the next level as well."