Sir Bobby Charlton believes Sven-Goran Eriksson has taken a gamble on Theo Walcott's future, as well as England's chances, by including the youngster in his World Cup squad.

The 17-year-old, who has yet to feature in the Arsenal first team since signing from Saints in January - indeed, he has only played three reserve games for the Gunners - is one of four strikers included in Eriksson's selection for the tournament.

The shortage of forwards, coupled with major doubt over the fitness of Wayne Rooney, means Walcott could make his England debut in Germany despite having never played in the Premiership.

"I don't suppose he will play unless there is an injury, but I am not so much worried about what it could do to England, I am more worried about what it could do to the lad," said Charlton.

"I would hate to think it could ruin him. I'm sure Sven-Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren have thought about it a lot.

"If I was in Sven-Goran Eriksson's shoes I don't think I'd have done it (selected Walcott) because it's a little bit too much to ask of the lad.

"I remember the first time I played for Manchester United, people warned me about the pace and the tempo, and when I played it was like nothing I was used to.

"The young lad has not had that experience yet with his club."

Charlton, who was a key part of England's 1966 World Cup winning team, said he was "surprised" by Eriksson's decision to include Walcott, Rooney, Peter Crouch and Michael Owen as the only forwards in the squad.

Darren Bent and Jermain Defoe missed the cut, although the latter is on standby.

Charlton would like to see a system introduced to ensure English players have a chance of breaking through at the leading clubs, giving future England managers a larger pool of strikers to work with.

He admitted: "I think it (the shortage of strikers in the squad) is one of the problems with having so many foreign players in the Premier League nowadays.

"We can't put restrictions on foreign players as such, but it would be good to have some sort of system in place.

"Perhaps making sure there are three home-grown players in every team would improve things."