Bentley advice for Walcott

Rovers winger urges Gunners star to follow his lead

By Chris Burton   Last updated: 6th March 2008

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Bentley: Former Gunner

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David Bentley has warned Theo Walcott against settling for a place on the fringes of the Arsenal first-team.

The Blackburn winger graduated from the Gunners academy in 2003, but was eventually forced to look elsewhere for regular football after finding his opportunities limited under Arsene Wenger.

His career has blossomed since leaving London, becoming a full England international and receiving widespread acclaim after a number of impressive displays.

Understandably he feels that he made the right decision for the sake of his career, and he has now urged Walcott not to rule out the possibility of moving to a supposedly smaller club in the future to help further his development.

Flourish

"Sometimes you need football, you need games to become better, to put your skills out on the football pitch," Bentley told talkSPORT.

"If he is not getting the minutes at Arsenal, he's going to have to look elsewhere.

"Your career doesn't start and end at Arsenal. It can flourish somewhere else.

"At the end of the day you want to make a career for yourself.

Comfortable

"You want to play football for a start and you want to make money as well.

"It's your job. If you want to make a career for yourself you can't afford to stay at a club where you might be 24 or 25 with 30 games under your belt.

"It was hard to for me to leave," he admitted.

"I was there from when I was 12 years old and I had a lot of friends.

"It becomes like a home. It became comfortable. But I didn't want to accept not playing and thinking 'these players are better than me'. Every week I wanted a game."