In his pre-match press conference today, Arsene Wenger was asked repeatedly about Jack Wilshere’s injury and his future, and the manager had some good soundbites to offer up. He was optimistic about the injury, and complimentary about Wilshere’s quality, but also made some interesting statements about the player’s future and the career prospects of injury-prone players in general.
On the injury:
“We think it’s a simple fracture that doesn’t need any surgery at all, and hopefully he will be back in July for normal training… It’s a very simple fracture of the fibula, and we need patience so let’s hope all goes well”
He added that it was an accidental injury that could have happened to any player, and that it didn’t necessarily have much to do with Wilshere’s injury history or proneness – which should serve as some reassurance to both the player and the fans.
On the treatment:
Surprisingly, Wenger revealed that he hadn’t spoken to Wilshere yet, and made it very clear that he was a Bournemouth player till the end of the loan. He said Jack would remain there till the loan deal ended and then come back to Arsenal for rehabilitation. We’ve often seen in the past that when Arsenal players get injured out on loan, they end their loan spells early and return to the club for treatment, so whether this is some hopefulness on the part of Bournemouth, or a very sticky loan arrangement, we don’t know.
He did add though that the medical staff had met yesterday to discuss the situation and were liaising with the Bournemouth medical team over the treatment, and that he expected to know more next week with Wilshere due to come in for assessment.
On the Bournemouth loan:
“We had many midfielders here and we couldn’t guarantee him to get 30 games and he got that at Bournemouth, so on that front it was a positive experience… The doubt is that you need to go on to the football pitch and not to worry to be injured, and I believe overall that he had a positive season on that front”
On Wilshere’s future:
Arsene was very complimentary about Wilshere as a player, though he had some less reassuring things to say about the prospects of injury-prone players at the top level.
Asked how he felt when hearing the news of Jack’s latest injury, he said he was “Sad, because Jack is a great football player with a great football brain, and his career has been stopped by many injuries”.
He followed this up with an interesting bit about how “a great career doesn’t stop and go”, and how a lack of consistency in getting games prevents players from achieving their potential and becoming top-level footballers:
“The important thing is the consistency of the presence – when the player has been out for a while the game is of such an intensity that it takes you a while to find your rhythm and get your confidence back… When you look at all the players who are at the top level of the world like Ronaldo, these guys play 50 or 60 games a year, they have the luck not to be stopped by injury, so you’re always sad when a guy of that quality is stopped by injury.”
Now whether that’s indicative of his thoughts on Jack’s future at Arsenal we don’t know, but he did add that the player was “still young” at 25.
On a new contract for JW:
New contract for Arsene Wenger? Nothing to say at the moment. New contract for Ozil? No discussions at the moment? New contract for Sanchez? No discussions at the moment.
New contract for Wilshere? You guessed it:
“I don’t know, we haven’t entered any negotiations… I think for all these cases where there is one year to go [we’ll discuss it] during the break”
Wilshere, Diaby, Eduardo, Rosicky….so many good players we have lost to injuries 🙁
I would almost be inclined to add Cazorla to that list now… 🙁
Yeah I am too but let’s hope he can have a injury free next season.
@Sahil + @AlexNuggz Santi has done a fair bit in an Arsenal shirt though. Had he not scored that goal just before half time in the FA Cup final against Hull, I genuinely don’t think we would of gone on to win it – he’s only really had fitness issues the last two seasons. Out of that list Diaby for me was the guy who could of been unreal for us, he had it all, it was so sad to see him sort of become this joke figure at Arsenal for never being fit, all stemming from Arsene never buying… Read more »
for me rosicky embodied the perfect arsenal player , could take on players with grace , knew how to move the ball forward using pass and move with teammates , 34 years of age and still looks young and constantly injured.
No one ever mentions RVP when we talk about injury prone players, which is weird
I think because everyone just blocks him out and doesn’t remember him as an Arsenal player due to the fact he was a traitorous back stabber by joining United.
I know he had a couple of great seasons at Arsenal, but I will never remember him for that.
Had RVP not been a complete dick in engineering his way out of the club he would have been remembered fondly, and quite possibly earned legendary status.
Imagine, had he stayed on for that one more season and then we had signed Ozil, the service a player of his quality would have enjoyed and the goal return a player of his ability would have scored.
But yes, RVP is very much dead to most of us.
That’s all very true but he’s still a great example of a player that was able to overcome his early injury problems like Jack needs to do, and he did so at an older age.
Yeah but that’s like saying, here’s a great plate of spaghetti but the meatballs are made of dungbeetles. No one likes to ruin a nice story with a steaming pile of shit.
What about new deal on Szcz? Any comment on that?
Anyway Rozza had so many injuries, yet he could cause tears of joy every time he got on the pitch, so the stop and go had no auch big impact on him.
On a side note we should make Kane our captain to pass that ffff curse on.
He’s already matured as a player hence the injuries would not impede his development, quite unlike Jack
As with so many of our previous players who suffered from constant injury, Jack’s on a pretty decent contract that I would be very surprised if anyone was willing to match. I can’t really imagine what we would ask for in terms of a fee for him, on the one had he’s a homegrown British player capable of being one of the best, on the other he rarely plays and when he has done this season he hasn’t always shone, but I would be very surprised if any club were willing to risk spending money on a fee for him… Read more »
I expect if he were to walk out of Arsenal on a free, Pep would almost certainly take the risk. What’s more, City can afford to carry him on a reasonable contract even if he barely plays.
The worry is, at 25/26 we sell/let him leave that he finally puts his injury concerns to bed and realises his huge potential.
Personally reckon we will keep him on.
Im also from hitchin and the words lovely lad and jack wilshere arent exactly synanamous! Still love yhe kid though
Arsène will never admit Wilshere is a mediocre player at best. He is like his son and Wenger has trained him for so long that he’d never admit he made a mistake about him.