THE girlfriend of teenage England star Theo Walcott has asked for privacy to allow her to focus on her forthcoming AS-level exams.

Melanie Slade, 17, issued a joint statement with the Walcott family asking that they be left alone, just hours after she appeared at a charity publicity event.

It said that she would not be considering any of the "very kind requests for interviews or commercial offers" until after the World Cup.

Melanie and ex-Saints star Theo, also 17, were thrust into the public eye on Monday when he was sensationally picked for the England squad for the tournament.

The talented teenager has never played in the first team for his club Arsenal and England manager Sven Goran Eriksson has never seen him play competitive football.

His pretty blonde girlfriend, studying at a sixth form college in Southampton, has been splashed across newspaper pages every day since the selection was announced.

Today she joined wives and girlfriends of other footballers at Tottenham's White Hart Lane stadium to publicise Cancer Research UK's race for life.

Leilani Dowding, girlfriend of Walcott's Arsenal team-mate Jeremie Aliadiere, advised her not to talk to the media "until you get paid a lot of money".

Here is the statement in full: "Melanie wishes to thank the media for their interest in her since the selection of Theo Walcott to the England World Cup squad on Monday. However, she wishes to request that she now be granted privacy to allow her to focus properly on the exams which she is about to sit. Melanie hopes that, as she is still in full-time education, the media will comply with this request. To that end, Melanie will not be considering any of the very kind requests for interviews or commercial offers until after the conclusion of the World Cup Finals in July. Similarly, the Walcott family has been flattered by the media interest in them and Theo since Monday's announcement and has endeavoured to be as co-operative as possible. However, they, too, wish to request that their privacy now be respected."