Fabio Capello joked last week that Theo Walcott spent much of last season on holiday, although as he trudged off the pitch at the Central Stadium in Almaty at half-time on Saturday night, the Arsenal winger looked in desperate need of another period of rest.

That he spent the next 45 minutes kicking his heels on the substitutes’ bench will have provided little consolation.

There is a certain irony that as England march on relentlessly towards next summer’s World Cup finals, the man responsible for kick-starting their qualifying campaign is looking a little boy lost. Walcott’s breathtaking hat-trick in Croatia last September feels a distant memory, as long ago as the days when Gordon Brown could rely on receiving a standing ovation at the Labour Party Conference.

Walcott has not scored an international goal since that unforgettable night that changed his life in Zagreb, and his confidence has declined in parallel with Arsenal’s poor finish to the season, with no goals since their FA Cup semi-final defeat by Chelsea in the middle of April.

In fairness, Walcott’s truncated outing against Kazakhstan was his first international appearance since dislocating his shoulder on the eve of a friendly fixture against Germany in November but, that said, it did not go as planned. He made only one contribution that lingers in the memory, a mazy run from the halfway line that led to nothing, but will have plenty of opportunities to impress in an England shirt in the coming weeks, because Stuart Pearce has named him in his squad for the European Under-21 Championship finals.

Taking Walcott to Sweden represents a calculated gamble, although Capello said that he had no concerns. The 20-year-old may regain his form as well as getting valuable experience of playing at a tournament after being a passenger during the last World Cup finals, but on the flip side, he could easily suffer from burnout, which would lead to his confidence dropping even farther.

Capello is technically correct in arguing that Walcott should be relatively fresh after missing four months of the season through injury, but taking such a retrospective view can be misleading. The England manager has a duty to look farther forward and examine the consequences of Walcott being denied a proper break this summer before the biggest season of his career.

Arsenal quite rightly want Walcott back in pre-season training on time at the start of July, so that he will be fully fit for their Champions League qualifying matches in August, meaning that he could have as little as two weeks’ rest between now and the World Cup finals.

Arsène Wenger has an outstanding track record of developing young talent — holding Walcott back for two years when the rest of the country wanted to see him unleashed on Barclays Premier League defenders — and his prescription for a proper break is unlikely to stem solely from self-interest.

“Theo didn’t play for four months, so I think he’ll play for us and the under-21s and it won’t be a problem for him,” Capello said. “After four months without a game, it’s been like a big holiday for him.”

It must be noted that Walcott is keen to travel with the under-21 team, partly because of the hope that he will be given the opportunity to play up front, which, along with Wenger, he considers to be his best position. Capello appears to have a different view, however, because despite giving lip service to the idea of playing Walcott as a second forward, it is inconceivable that he would ever be preferred to Wayne Rooney.

“He’s young and if Theo plays like a centre forward for Arsenal, then he can play for us here both on the right wing and as a second forward,” Capello said. “It’s another option for us.” Walcott should keep his place for the visit of Andorra to Wembley Stadium on Wednesday, not least because the erratic Shaun Wright-Phillips was equally disappointing in Kazakhstan.

Capello’s model relies on having pace down the right flank because there is precious little elsewhere in the team, meaning that David Beckham may have to continue to be content with a place on the bench.

As Beckham pointed out, Walcott’s pace means he will always trouble defenders even when he is playing badly, which cannot be said for players such as himself, who rely on their technique to make an impact.

“A player of Theo’s pace and the way he goes at players is always going to be a threat, no matter what people say about his form,” Beckham said. “He’s a talented player. You give him the ball, put the ball in front of him and he causes any defence problems.”

Such a view clearly has merit, although at the moment Walcott is also struggling with problems of his own.