Ex-England international John Barnes has cautioned against piling too much pressure on Theo Walcott after his hat-trick for England against Croatia.
The 19-year-old Arsenal striker, who was called up aged 17 to the 2006 World Cup, shone in Wednesday's 4-1 win.
"He's a great player but let's not get carried Impressive Arsenal overwhelm Newcastle ...
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Prince Caspian ... away," Barnes told the BBC.
"The last time we did this, when he got selected for the World Cup, his career halted for 18 months to two years - let's allow him to develop."
Walcott became the youngest player to score a hat-trick for England when he put Croatia to the sword as his promising career finally began to bear fruit at the highest level.
After signing for Arsenal from Southampton aged 16 for a fee rising to Ј12.5m, he made only 14 league starts in his first two seasons at the Gunners.
He did become England's youngest player, replacing Wayne Rooney, when he made his debut as a substitute against Hungary in May 2006 aged just 17 years and 75 days.
But although he was part of former boss Sven-Goran Eriksson's 2006 World Cup squad he did not play in Germany and had to wait until the June 2008 friendly against Trinidad and Tobago for his second cap, before subsequently starting against both Andorra and Croatia.
Barnes, who won 79 caps for England, suggested the emergence of a number of young contenders, including Walcott, means it is time to draw the curtain on former captain David Beckham's international career.
"If you look at what David Bentley's done, and Shaun Wright-Phillips is coming back into form, the right-hand side looks very good," Barnes told BBC Radio Five Live.
"David (Beckham), from the point of view of a dead-ball specialist, is fine, but if you look at the last 10 years, that hasn't worked, so why's it going to work now?
"It was a brave move (selecting Walcott) but we do have to look for other things. It gives us an extra dimension because we've got lots of pace, and defenders hate pace, so it's fantastic.
"Shaun Wright-Phillips is someone who can do that as well. So the future looks good."
(BBC)
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