Theo Walcott tells story of two Arsenal teammates fighting in changing room - reason why resurfaces | OneFootball

Theo Walcott has revealed that Robin van Persie and Aaron Ramsey fell out during a 1-0 Premier League win over Manchester City back in 2012. In fact, the argument even led to a full-blown fight in the dressing room, with things being thrown and manager at the time Arsene Wenger leaving the players to sort it out between themselves.

Walcott was speaking on Gary Neville’s Overlap YouTube channel where he recalled the incident, along with announcing his official retirement from football following his departure from Southampton.

Van Persie & Ramsey fight at Arsenal

In the 94th minute of the match, Czech Republic midfielder Tomas Rosicky threaded a pass through to Aaron Ramsey, who cut back passed a defender before blazing a shot horribly wide of the mark. Van Persie, who was fighting for the Golden Boot at the time, was screaming for a pass, but it never came and Walcott has admitted that the Dutchman was furious at the now-Cardiff City midfielder for not squaring it to him.

He said: “Robin was going for the Golden Boot and I understand strikers are selfish, they want to score, I get it. We were playing Man City and Arteta scored, it was quite a famous goal for him, actually. I remember we came in and everyone was happy and Robin wasn’t happy because he didn’t score. Aaron went clean through at the end, he should have squared it to him and Robin scores. We were all happy and then Robin goes off on one with Aaron.

“It gets all heated and players are getting thrown all over the place. I remember seeing Arsene [Wenger], sort of, slip past and go to his back office because he thought the players will just deal with this. He would get the team to deal with the problems.”

Footage of the Van Persie & Ramsey incident resurfaces

The footage of the incident shows Van Persie visibly frustrated at Ramsey, and it is not surprising to find out that the fury spilled over into the dressing room. Arteta’s match-winner did not end up costing Manchester City, though, as they famously went on to win their first Premier League title.

Van Persie did go on to finish as top scorer in the league that season with 30 goals, before he joined Manchester United in the following summer. The Dutch striker’s goals were a main factor behind Arsenal finishing in the Champions League, as they finished in third place, which was the last remaining spot to qualify that year because Chelsea lifted the European Cup by beating Bayern Munich to seal their qualification for the following year.

Theo Walcott's retirement from football

That Arsenal team, of course, included Walcott, who also announced his retirement in a special episode of The Overlap. He added: “I’m officially going to be hanging up my boots. It’s very scary, I can’t lie. It’s scary because football’s all I’ve known from the age of 16 or even younger. I want to try new things I never experienced as a kid – I missed out on a lot. I just feel like I want to experience life – things [usually] revolve around football for me.”

The 34-year-old’s career took him from Southampton to Arsenal, onto Everton, before he finished his playing days back on the South Coast.

He won two FA Cups and two Community Shields during his time with Arsenal, while also playing 47 times for England, where he scored eight goals.