AS A MAN who has built a successful career on the back of carefully nurturing young talent, it was strange to hear Arsène Wenger advising Steve McClaren to recall David Beckham yesterday, but perhaps desperate times call for desperate measures.

Having seen his native France flourish after Zinédine Zidane led a return of the old guard 18 months ago, Wenger raised the prospect of the England head coach doing likewise, with Beckham chief among his thoughts.

Wenger’s backing will hearten Beckham and the former captain will have the opportunity to impress the man who matters when he plays for Real Madrid against Getafe tomorrow — a match that McClaren could watch as it is being broadcast in the UK. A petition has also been launched on a website, bringbackbeckham.com, but the 31-year-old can champion his own cause with some dynamic performances.

“McClaren maybe thought it was time for a new era and you always try that,” Wenger said. “In France we tried that as well when (Raymond) Domenech took over. You bring the new players in and after a while you think maybe for that kind of game you need experience.

“They brought Zidane, Makelele and Thuram back and we needed that to qualify [for the World Cup]. France did well in the World Cup because at that level experience is important, but it’s for Steve McClaren to decide.

“I do not want to add any more pressure on him because he had the whole country on his back. I don’t think he needs any more. But he certainly will analyse the situation and at least he will think about it. Beckham is still technically a very good player.”

Having rejected the opportunity to sign Beckham on three occasions, the latest as recently as last summer, Wenger’s support is surprising and may contain an element of self- interest. From his point of view, Beckham makes a more suitable potential England saviour than Theo Walcott, whom the Arsenal manager insists is not yet the answer, despite scoring two superb goals for England against Germany in the European Under-21 Championship play-off on Tuesday.

“Theo Walcott can help, but it is wrong to think that a boy of 17 has to save a country, That’s not right,” Wenger said. “He certainly will be an England player in the future, but you cannot say now, ‘We take a player of 17 years old and he has to qualify us for the European Championship’. He will one day. But you have qualified for the [2006] World Cup and you have done not as bad as you think.

“You qualified for the World Cup before, you qualified for the [2004] European Championship and just lost against the finalists, Portugal, so you cannot destroy everybody and say suddenly no one is good any more. It is because of national pride that people go overboard.”

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Wenger is determined to protect Walcott, who will start on the bench against Watford today, although he was at least willing to explain the apparent contradiction between his reluctance to pick the teenager after encouraging Sven-Göran Eriksson to take him to the World Cup finals.

“The expectation level for him is so high,” Wenger said. “If he plays and he’s not superb, everybody comments on it and the day he plays everybody says, ‘Oh, we have to see something special from you’. It’s exactly the reverse for most young players because nobody expects anything from them; anything they do is exceptional. Theo is already in the opposite situation.

“Theo was ready to come on at the World Cup, though he was maybe not ready to start the games with all the pressure. But when the space opens up, it doesn’t matter if you’re 17 or 30, if you’re quick, you’re quick.

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