Arsene Wenger says that Jack Wilshere has the talent to make it at Arsenal, but has admitted the midfielder could be allowed leave the club this summer.
The England international is just back in training following a broken leg sustained while playing for Bournemouth last season, and as yet the Arsenal manager isn’t sure what the future holds for the 25 year old.
He’s inside the final 12 months of his contract, and there have been no moves from the club to extend his contract. It all suggests that a move is on the cards, something Wenger admitted.
“That decision is not completely made,” he said. “I want him to have a chance to play somewhere as well. We have to decide that a bit later.
“I wanted first for him to come back, he is coming out of a fracture. It is the first week he is back in full training and we have to sit down together and see where we go from there.
“He has gone through difficult times, I want him to have the career he can have and I am quite open on that.”
Asked if his time was up at Arsenal, Wenger continued, “It is not passed because he has the talent to be regular, but he has to come back to competition in a consistent way.”
It is a tricky one, because while his talent is obvious but his injury problems even more so. The contract situation adds an urgency to the situation too, because if it’s decided not to offer him a new deal then he should be sold and those funds reinvested.
Let’s see what happens between now and the end of the transfer window.
I will hate to see Jack leave Arsenal. I hope he gets over his injury problems and fulfills his potential at Arsenal. He is rare talent and it will be one of the greatest tragedies if he doesn’t fulfill it here
Wenger clearly loves the man and wants him to succeed. After last season, I think we’ve been incredibly patient with jack, as we were with Diaby and others in the past
I really hope he has a good season, whether it leads to him renewing here or going on somewhere else. The latter seems much more likely but let’s not write him off just yet…
You can’t help but think that Wenger rated Diaby far higher than Wilshere. With Diaby, he was given a contract extension even when it looked clear his career was most likely over. Wenger is far more ambivalent about Wilshere. Perhaps it could also be due to their respective work ethics.
Why did Wenger say three weeks ago he was giving a focused answer about Wilshere and that meant he wanted him to stay and fight for his place ? Will the focused answer on Sanchez change ?
Dunno about work ethic. Jack pushing to leave last year obviously hurt Wenger and may have irreparably damaged their relationship. When you’ve invested so much in a player, including supporting them through extensive injury problems, and they up and leave because they were dropped from the England squad…
I mean he’s basically a moron, let’s be honest.
Young people will always make mistakes. He was naive thinking he would be better off playing elsewhere. He had a lot of people in his ear telling him that was a better option than staying and fighting for his place
I don’t think he’s a moron at all, but otherwise completely agree.
Or simply because he decided not make the same mistake twice
We do so much more for injury prone players than other clubs. While it helps us maintain the image of class, it only clogs our squad list with players who may not contribute to the season. Nothing wrong with being objective here. While talent and potential are not in doubt, players like wilshere, ox, ramsey,Gibbs, carzola and to an extent, Walcott and welbeck have not fulfilled their potential with the club despite being on huge wages. Topping the injury table in most of the last 12 seasons is a major factor in our achievement or lack of it. In any… Read more »
Cazorla while injured now has fully delivered on his talent when fit
I agree on everything here. Except the players you use as examples.
Cazorla has one freak injury and now he’s bracketed with Jack Wheelchair? Very unfair on Santi. Santi is the best technical footballer I’ve ever seen (when he shifts the ball from one foot to the other as if he’s got the ball glued to his feet is Messi-esque) aside from possibly Bergkamp.
Jack Wheelchair? Don’t be a cunt.
Good decision if we sell or loan him out, his injury is too much, looks like Diaby’s level of injury. If we sell him and find a replacement in a fit player than it’ll be a good business for us. Interested in Seri, Kante-esque player, very mobile and good at tackle, good pair for Xhaka that has slow pace. His release clause only 40 Mill, kinda cheap for today’s market, i hope we can sign him after loan Wilshere. But if we really got Lemar, probably Wenger will turn him into DM.
I don’t get the Kante/Seri comparisons. Seri, from the little I’ve seen/read, is a playmaker and dribbler. Obviously Kante is not. Am I missing something, beyond the whole ‘they’re both short and black’ generalisation?
No, your right
He is good though and I could see him working alongside Xhaka for sure.
For 4 years i’ve been following Arsenal and i’m still wondering where the “his talent is obvious” comes from. He was even a failure at Bournemouth that were better without him than with him.
Well that’s because you’ve only been following the club for 4 years.
Well, that means that maybe the obvious talent isn’t there anymore, maybe?
You know, if people who saw him tearing shit up as a youngster still see that talent, but people who didn’t see that don’t see anything in particular, you can’t say it’s obvious. And that would mean the talent has probably been reduced from what it once might have been. Injuries take their toll, it would be more surprising if he was 100% the player he once was.
That’s why he played in the majority of their games I suppose
Time to let him leave. I think the problem is Jack wants a guaranteed place in the first 11, but that simply isn’t possible. If he insists on that, then sell him without hesitation. Personally I’d get Seri and keep Jack. We have to consider the Ox as well. It’s really a tricky situation. But like Wenger said, he needs to fight and earn his place
You’re not the only one, Arsene! He’s a player that divides the fan base like few others. Personally I’d love him to come good, but he’s surely in the last chance saloon (contract issues aside) He’s not shown enough since ‘that Barcelona game’, and last year was the perfect chance but he didn’t exactly set the world alight. The golden British generation has been a mixed bag, ranging from poor to good at best if we’re honest which is a shame. We need to get back to doing whatever neccesary to start winning titles again. Fingers crossed we have a… Read more »
i can understand very well why wenger seems to be extraordinary patient with injury-prone players and reluctant to sell. with diaby it did seem unreasonable at some point, but – an injury-ptone player is usually already well integrated in the team, wenger is convinced of their talent and there’s always the big “what if he turns it around”. high wages are the only thing one con side (albeit a releant one)
People don’t know but the talent Wilshire has is way above what we have. The moment his magic clicks there will be no other midfielder of his level.
I sometimes don’t understand what the God has against Arsenal players. I have been following Arsenal for the last 11 years but hardly there will be any team suffering more than us on injury and bad referring decisions.
Arsenal fans suffer a lot.
I don’t see him ever being a regular, so gambling on his fitness by keeping him seems pointless and unnecessary..Shame, because I really like the lad….so: hit the road, Jack…
Shame he didn’t manage to maintain his full potential with us but I think it’s time we moved on. That’s him as well as a few others. Jenkinson, Debuchy, Perez, Campbell…
Wilshere pushed for the move to Bournemouth because he wasn’t prepared to fight for a place at Arsenal, and they played better without him. He didn’t even bother to congratulate the team for winning the FA Cup on his social media account. All of a sudden he wants to stay and fight? Most likely he’s discovered that other teams won’t pay more than half his inflated wages for an average player who’s always injured. We need to upgrade on a player whose claim to fame is a game against Barcelona how many years ago now? Time to move on.
He was brilliant that entire season, not just for one Barca game.
At 16 years old he was the best player at Arsenal. 16. It wasn’t a single game against Barcelona. If you were at the games back then you’d know. But you’re probably just another armchair fan who, thanks to technology, gets an equal voice in forums like this, disputed your limited knowledge and understanding.
sell for ffs
not good enough
injury prone
get someone in there that will b usefull to the squad
We really must lead the league in such incredibly talented players that were continually derailed by injury that prevented them from becoming the stars that everyone envisioned with Diaby, Rosicky and Wilshere. Very sad to watch in each case.
wilshire wouldnt lace rosicky’s boots
Nonesense. Rosicky is prob my favourite player of recent times, but an injury free jack was better.
I’ll be honest here.I didn’t watch too many matches before 2014.Can somebody clarify something:Are a lot of Jack’s injuries due to faulty tackles from opposition players or are his legs unable to bear the rigour and roughness of the league on a consistent basis?
Because the few times I’ve seen him in action, he has been just ordinary(except for the Norwich goal)
He’s injury prone. We relied on him at 16 and he played too many games for that age. Add to that he’s been on the end of some crunching fouls and gets nailed because of his style of play, and here we are.
Seeing as Mesut hasn’t signed a new deal and our manager is unsure about Jack’s future can we hand God’s iconic no.10 shirt over to a different player? A new signing?
What do you guys think?
Give it to Mesut when he signs his new contract and also get another player.
Its a risk to have him in the squad because he struggles with fitness not ability.
We can carry the risk if we have Santi fit for season but with both injury risk, it seems daft to rely on Jack.
Jack is one of the few players (like Santi) who can give us some penetration up the vertical with his dribbling, that’s where we may see benefit in his retention.
But the injuries…
Probably better to sell and get someone who can be more robust.
It would mean the end of something significant if he was to leave but of Iwobi continues to develop he can fill that local lad gap.
Keep him. He is a gooner. When injury free invaluable.