According to the Mirror, Jack Wilshere’s days as an Arsenal player are numbered with Arsene Wenger open to offers for the midfielder this summer.
The England international wasn’t included in the Gunners touring party for pre-season games in Australia and China as he’s still working his way back to fitness after suffering a fractured leg in May while on loan at Bournemouth.
Like several other players at the Emirates, Wilshere is now into the final 12 months of his current contract and would be allowed to sign a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club in January. Seemingly out of the club’s long-term thinking, it’s claimed the club would rather sell now to avoid losing him on a free.
Serie A side Sampdoria have reportedly made an offer of £6 million for the 25-year-old. That seems ludicrously low given his pedigree, but at the same time he’s only mustered 146 Premier League appearances since making his debut nine years ago.
This time last year it felt like Arsene Wenger was very eager to retain Wilshere. That was until the player, faced with considerable competition in midfield, pressed for a loan move after missing out on an England selection. In hindsight, it looks as though that decision was the beginning of the end.
It appears with Wenger – once you get loaned, you’re owned. Can’t think of anyone after Coq that has come back.
Song.
Jack was loaned to Bolton
I think going to a team like Newcastle, under Benitez would be a good move for him. If he’s up for it, I’d like him to stay and fight for a place.
Wenger said two days ago : I will give you a very focused answer about Jack. I want him to stay and fight for his place in the team.
Either Wenger or the news lack focus, I think.
Ramsey as well, he was loaned out and came back. Ultimately Jack moving to Bournemouth on loan was so stupid, if he was advised to do it by his management then he should fire them. Or if it was down to his own petulance, then he’s done it to himself. If he stayed last year he would have played a fair few games, and his stock would be a so much higher instead of what it is actually worth now after his bang average season at Bournemouth ending with another injury. He genuinely could have been such a huge player… Read more »
“Ultimately Jack moving to Bournemouth on loan was so stupid, if he was advised to do it by his management then he should fire them.” Tosh and piffle. The loan move was an opportunity for him to feature regularly, gain some form and come back to the club with a season of Premier League football under his belt. If it didn’t work out, it was a platform for him to engineer a move onwards. It was a good loan for a player not likely to get significant game time at Arsenal. He didn’t perform well enough and will now rightly… Read more »
Disagree about the “rightfully being sold”. He should fight for his place and for a new contract, instead of hiding behind media stories. A great player is still somewhere in there.
I disagree with the ‘taking your eye off the ball’ part, to an extent. I think smoking a few fags and being a bit of a prick are likely to have made far less of an impact on his career as the injuries he has suffered. It might seem as if he isn’t 100% committed to his career by doing so, sure, but the fact his body is falling to pieces has prevented him from being as good as he could have been. I don’t think clean living would’ve help much in that regard.
@Crash Fistfight – it wasn’t just the doffing of tabs, he had that period of time when he broke into the first team when he was constantly caught in the papers for being out on the piss living it up, which is probably not the thing to be doing when you’re 20 odd playing for the Arsenal first team. @Clive St Helmet – I obviously understand the ambition behind the move. My point was he still would have had bags of opportunities to play if he stayed at Arsenal. So it was unnecessarily hasty and too bigger a risk to… Read more »
Bellerin, Ramsey also came back. Ainsley Maitland-Niles is another.
Completely depends on the individual circumstances and the reason for the loan, and how well they perform while on loan. And then of course you’ve got Gnabry, who didn’t do well on loan but was nevertheless offered a new contract which he declined.
I feel sorry for Jack, but I think a parting of the ways is best for all. Clean slate for him.
Joel Campbell too…
I mean sure, we shipped him out again, but he did come back for a bit.
They were loaned to gain experience and came back better players. If Arsene loans players after they have established themselves then that is usually a bad sign.
No kidding, seems that to him a loan is purely an opportunity to offload fringe player salaries.
To be fair that seems to be the thing at most clubs. Even Sturridge and welbz who both were impressive when on loan, was sold.
Cole
Gibbs
Gibbs? I don’t remember that
Our LORD shall not b pleased with you…..;-)
Bellerin
Time’s up for Jack unfortunately
And what do we think of that?
And what do we think of sh*t?
Such a shame that after years of niggley injuries and long absences from first team football, the player left is just distinctly average. And that’s the really heartbreaking thing. At Bournemouth he just looked like another player. Sad stuff. We’ve seen more of this than any single club should and it never gets any less upsetting. Not saying anything necessarily caused this other than bad luck but players would do well to remember people like Jack when they go in for stupid and reckless challenges on the half way line. Genuinely hope Jack finds some form over time which is… Read more »
To be honest his time was up two years ago. As a non brit he has been a disruptive head case for years but British fans gave given him a much longer that foreign players. Just look how quickly everyone turned on Alexis yet jack smokes, parties, makes bigoted comments, asks to leave because he is not up for it and he still has people in love with him. Double standards
Simply true..
I don’t know what you mean about “bigoted comments;” I’ve never heard anything like that about Wilshire.
The only thing I can think of is the brief controversy when Jack said that the England team should have English players. It was clear, in context, that he was not talking some racist tripe, nor about immigrants. He was responding to the ridiculous fantasies floated by pundits about how Adnan Januzaj, who is Belgian of Kosovar and Albanian background, might somehow be eligible for England despite his only connection being that he had just then begun playing in Manchester.
Johanna Konta’s family didn’t move to the UK until she was a teenager. Chris Froome grew up in Kenya and South Africa, and didn’t race for the UK until like 2008 or something. Either being English (and/or British) is a matter of bloodlines and looking and sounding traditionally “appropriate”, or it’s a matter of law and whether a person thinks of themselves as such. It’s understandable to a point that people feel nonplussed about how fluid nationality is in the sports world, but I personally think nationality is a fluid concept. It’s better that way, too. Getting obsessed with who’s… Read more »
yeah because an immigrant that becomes a citizen is some sort of lesser person than someone born in a country…thanks for clarifying the bigotry
Didn’t realise we were in the business of letting talented players go for nothing, especially considering the Cazorla situation. The justification for selling being that we have Coq and Elneny is also….sceptical
Are you going to rely on him staying injury free and fighting for a place? Diaby and Rosicky were bombarded by injuries, but each time they got fit, they kept trying to come back into the squad. Wilshere pushed for a loan move when he was fit and could have fought for a place in the squad, especially with his skillset
You can’t rely on anyone staying injury free, that’s why you have a squad. But it seems that when people on Arseblog News talk about signing and selling players they think we only need 11, not 25! As for fighting for a place, if you read the article it’s actually in line with what Wenger said the other day but given a negative spin. Jack can stay but he’s not guaranteed first team football and needs to fight for his place. If he doesn’t want to do that, of course he can go. But that’s been turned into “Arsenal show… Read more »
I agree. Wilshere has more talent than Coq and Elneny – his only question is fitness. I’d certainly play him in the Europa League and cup games.
Well its not only fitness, given he played almost a whole season for B’mouth and was no better than Coq or Elneny.
Seems confidence is also an issue here, and that can be tough to tackle, no matter what talent you have.
Would you sign Jack wilshere for Arsenal now if he wasn’t our player?
Brilliantly put.
For £6m I would.
For 6mil, absolutely
I mean, we signed Park. Even Lucas, although coming off a good season, was a relatively low-cost punt.
well, Lucas wasn’t that low cost I guess, but yeah
Just don’t tell me you would have to think who of Jack and Lucas you would rather have.
ps: Lucas had more goals and assists last – fringe – season than Jack in the last three combined.
This is an excellent point, and very well put. Unfortunately the same probably applies to quite a few others, including Walcott, Ox, Ramsey, and Gibbs. We’ve gotten stuck with this group of players who are ok on their day but not really up to it on a consistent basis at the top level, and for some reason are hesitant to move on.
Walcott did more in 2/3 of last season than Wilshere has in his entire career so far. Gibbs the only one comparable to Wilshere so far.
Used to be that Wenger had a track record with fixing players careers when everyone else thought they were gone. Think KANU overmars henry and even bergkamp (i know he didn’t sign him). Then we went into a phase of good players having their careers fucked by injury. All I can think of is all that time Jack was played in the “red zone” because Wenger didn’t have anyone else. I’m not so quick to write off an Arsenal boy. Hope he has more heart and fight than most people seem to think.
This makes me sad. Not that it’s necessarily the wrong decision, but I remember years ago telling everyone that this 16 year old we’ve got goes past players like Messi and he’d be a global star…
He was special, no doubt. Those injuries, though, damn, they have taken a toll and he was never able to develop.
I don’t think he’ll ever come close to his earlier potential or stay injury free for any amount of time.
A shame.
We have a whole generation of footballers who came through the academy and are f*cked for injuries. One huge thing that could come from all the fitness appointments we’ve been making is that the next generation are better looked after and more robust
I still remember that game against Barcelona. Coincidentally, I watched his highlight for that game on youtube yesterday. What an unfortunate situation with the injuries.
Hit the road Jack. Would have loved him to make it with us but he is just too injury prone and we need more consistency. Very sad but hopefully he lands a good club where he can rebuild his career.
It seems last year’s loan move was a gamble that didn’t really pay off for Jack. It’s a real shame. Maybe Italian football would be good for him.
Remember when Pep once said the Barca academy was full of players better than Jack and we all got in an uproar because he was our Jack… turns out he was right eh?
Not really. Wilshere showed an enormous amount of potential as a young player, with excellent touch, movement, vision and passing. He just hasn’t progressed at all, whether it be down to injury, fitness, motivation, etc. It shows that no amount of talent is alone enough to support a top-level career.
A shame but selling him the best option. Has been given numerous opportunities but his fitness struggles are too much of a hindrance on the squad. Had the opportunity to stay and fight for a place last year but instead opted to move to a lower tier side. That speaks volumes. He did nothing last season to suggest he’s good enough at Arsenal and had he not previously been an Arsenal player nobody would be wanting us to buy him.
We will miss his passion. Sadly not many play with that Arsenal passion in this current squad, wilshere always has. Loved it when he went up against shawcross
His passion to be in the England squad?
Good riddance
Poor him. Could have been our next Tony Adams(in terms of status)
At least he reached legendary status with the “what do you think of Tottenham chant”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0R7gWf-nSA
his pedigree? he had a lot of potential growing up but to assume he is anything but average at this stage is an exaggeration. Also, this is a Serie A club. They offer/pay way less than Premier League players due to TV deals. Case in point: Walker costing 50m / Bonucci costing 35m. And we can all agree who is the vastly superior player of the two.
I think 6m is a fair price for a football player who is basically made of papier mache.
I’d take 6 mil and cut our losses
He will do better in a less physical league.
Something we don’t know about has happened behind the scenes here. He cut all of his ties to Arsenal through social media as soon as he left for Bournemouth. Strange for a lad who grew up with the club.
Sad, but time to say goodbye.
Well, its kinda sad, but we are packed on that area… He is a Gunner for heart, but Jenkinson is too, but we wont keep him either. I think he could have been a legend here, but things went wrog for him, especially injuries. I dont know is he can ever recover his old self, but if he, we can sign him back. Best case, he will find form, we sign him back, and he will captain the side, and retire from here. That would be a fairy tale. We must intsert a buy back clause, her surely will come… Read more »
Let the cull begin!
I like him, always did but that decision to move out on loan was always going to be a disaster.
Who in their right mind would take him?
Any club will know they’ve got us over a barrel.
Less than 12months on deal
We can’t warrant a new deal
He’s surplus to requirements
No one in their right mind would offer him a 3-4 yr deal with his injury record.
Both the player+club may have to take a loan deal late in the window.
If I was Jack I’d have got myself a nice like beach hut down in Cabo for 6months and pumped myself full of stem cells and Growth and came back looking like the Wolverine.
I hate to say it because I love Jack to bits, but he looked sooooooo ordinary at Bournemouth, when he should’ve stood out as a class player. His problems started when Wenger decided to play him 55 times or whatever it was in that first season rather than buy an experienced midfielder to let Jack develop properly. I know a number of his injuries have been impact ones but he’s never been the same since that first bad injury from being overplayed. The best compliment I can give him is without the injuries he wouldn’t even be at arsenal by… Read more »
he just was’nt able to play the game he wants to play. his body is not up for it.
he likes a crunching tackle or two. he runs at players and delays his pass till the last moment inviting unwanted tackles.
he just is not fit enough to help him advance his game.
hope he stays healthy and resurrects his game.
those two goals for eng vs slovenia was good. as was his pass and move goal against norwich.
bye bye jack.
Crunching being the operative word
honestly I just don’t think he’s cut out for the Premier League with his body structure (prone to injuries). He would do much better in a slower, less physical league in Europe like Spain or Italy where his technical ability would matter more.
Jack has had his problems but £6 mill is a derisory offer. Put that in context, Kevin Stewart has just been sold to Hull from Liverpool for £8 million & Britt Assombalonga has just cost Boro £15 mill. Yes Jack is always injured but he is very talented and is an Arsenal boy. I’d much rather we punt on him staying fit than take an offer of £6 mill, which in this market, gets you the best part of bugger all.
The players you mentioned were bought by two english clubs. Italian clubs don’t have as much money. Factor that in.
I get that but not really the point. We could sell him in England for triple what’s on offer from Sampdoria. It’s not a sensible offer for us to consider.
Wilshire gambled and lost. He was on the bench for f*cking Bournemouth, when they needed wins to survive. He was ignored by Southgate, when he was fully fit, rendering the whole purpose of going on-loan redundant.
Like Szczesny, Wilshere seems out of Wenger’s good books. But unlike Szczesny, whose selling might be mistake, Wilshere should be sold asap.
Correct decision to get rid
It’s a tough one. He’s Arsenal through and through so if we do let him leave let’s put a buy back clause in the agreement. I would let him leave for free if we could get a clause in that sad we could buy him back for free.
He’s so talented that if overcomes the bloody injuries, gets some confidence and regular game time he could become a great player.
It is the right decision to let him leave but it is a fucking shame.
How about selling him for 10 million with a buy back clause within two years? That way if he gets over his injury problems we can have our Jack back and if he doesn’t, well, so long.
With those injuries he should go to championship side, i mean whenever he comebacks from injury he has average performance, wait for him to reach his peak again? He will injured again before that, that guy is finish at top level.
We need to take what we can get for Wilshere now. I just don’t see him ever being the player he looked like he would become many years back. Even when he played last year at Bournemouth wasn’t anything spectacular. I would take the steadiness and consistency of availability of Elneny any day over the current Wilshere.
Terribly sad, I’m pretty much the same age as Jack so when he was breaking into the first team I was really starting to fall in love with the club. So much potential, I remember after a stunning game against Barca thinking that he was arsenal for life and he was out future captain. This will be one of the saddest departures for me, not because of losing him as a player but the almost finality that we will never see the Wilshere that looked like he’d no doubt be one of the worlds best.
Best of luck Jack
Six million, I’d take that, but think Wenger would not be impressed ?
For someone touted as future Arsenal captain and great hope of English football, its quite a fall from grace. The hype was not without reason, he looked the real deal when he broke through. Unfortunately, injuries put payed to what could have been something special for the Arsenal.
It’s pretty sad for Wilshere I must say. At this point, I don’t see any top team considering him anymore. I only wish he can overcome his injury woes both physical and psychological. He definitely won’t lounge into tackles d way he does without the fear of getting injured again(remember diaby against Newcastle). All the best jack.
too injury prone. It’s logical to sell him
How much would we be willing to pay for Jackson Wilsherio, the 25 year old Spanish ex wonderkid who after showing lots of talent as a teenager went on loan to Sporting Gijon where he was a starter, but not a star after he was injured for the best part of 4 seasons?
Ramsaldo
Roberto Holdini
Theos Walciottosopoppodopoulis
If it was a choice between jack and Alexis, Jack would be gone in a flash. If jack was not British, he’d be the number one target to offload. Hypocrisy from some fans. Alexis may want CL but he won’t underperform if he had to stay one more year to get us back in top 4. I’m sorry for his injuries but his attitude and behaviour also make me think arsenal are better off without.
Giving them the 10 shirt made him feel he had arrived in my opinion. And there is cause and consequences between lifestyle and injuries. Another underperforming English midfielder, he should have been on the level of Verratti by now…
If your faced with adversity and start looking for the exit sign, how can your teammates trust you? Good luck to him in all future endeavors.
always holds onto the ball too long thus setting himself up to get injured. My dad said that the first time he watched Jack, but it took me longer to see it. He thought he could do what Cesc could do, but I think his bravery is what also made his legs/ankles vulnerable.
Best of luck Jack, go abroad and have a real adventure with your young family.
Omg can’t believe we gonna sell jack ,let alone for 6mill crazy . Is not just an average player were talking about ,his injury problems have a lot to do with being played to young in to many games because we sold all our best players ! I don’t think he should have gone on loan but he did well at Bournemouth n they played a lot better football with him in the team. He is one of the best football’s ive ever seen and he is still young , the club should stand by jack
His skillset would have been so useful last term. His dribbling ability as a central midfielder is up there with the best.
Sad, but seems inevitable after his decision last season, fairly uninspiring performance and history of injuries. I actually think this will be best for him as well as the club – assuming there are bidders!