Jack Wilshere’s future remains in serious doubt after the midfielder admitted there had been no progress between himself and the club over a contract extension.
It’s been widely reported that Arsenal have offered him a highly incentivised deal which would see him earn less in terms of his basic salary but with the potential to increase his overall take home pay through appearances and achievements.
Clearly his fitness issues have informed this offer, and last week Arsene Wenger more or less said that the club had gone as far as it was willing to go.
“The decision belongs him to, you know,” said Wenger. “At the end of the day you have to respect the decision of the player.
“Our desire is clear, is expressed, is numbered, and after that the player has to find satisfaction as well.”
However, there appears to be stalemate as Wilshere has yet to sign, and after the 2-0 win over AC Milan on Thursday night, the 26 year old was asked by James Olley of the Evening Standard if there was any news in the wake of the manager’s comments.
“Things have changed since then and all I can tell you is that we are no closer to sorting anything out,” he said.
With less than four months remaining on his current contract, it looks more and more likely that Wilshere will leave on a Bosman this summer.
Perhaps he’s waiting to see who will be in charge next season, but is also running the risk that a potential new manager might decide the Arsenal midfield needs something else.
Wilshere deserves some respect
He sees the state the team is in (Not counting the win on Thrusday). Perhaps he wants to wait and see.
Sadly, his body has let him down. Maybe it has something to do with all that smoking…
He is a good player when fit but I think if Wenger stays, Jack will seriously consider his options in the summer and if he gets to the WC he will be in football’s greatest shop window.
Personally I would like him to stay.
Because the club disrespects him? Always trusting him and keeping their faith in him?
Wilshere will go to Man City if he leaves. Guardiola has probably tapped him up already, his type of midfielder.
And that is what the club has just done by giving him a highly incentivised deal. Wilshere should jump at this; it is only Arsenal who can put up with his incessant injuries. Remember that common Bournemouth put him on the bench. This is the time to prove that he is really Mr. Arsenal, or are we wrong thinking that he is. He is not showing good example by delaying. Hope he won’t do the van persie, who we nurtured through injuries, only for him to stab us at the back.
I don’t recall us offering RVP a pay cut. Can’t really compare the two situations, can you?
Jack started 22 matches for Bournemouth & had 5 sub appearances. While I understand people not being overly impressed by his performances there can we please stop peddling this myth that he didn’t get regular games. It’s just not true.
But he was available and sat the bench, and that at the end of the season when the manager had seen what he could offer.
I’ll admit he looks one of our more impressive players of late, but once bitten, twice shy. Can we rely on Wilshere?
Again, just not true btw. He missed their first 3 games of the season before his loan deal & the last 5 because he was injured. So he was only available for 30 games & played in 27. Pretty sure he missed 1 or 2 during the season because of minor knocks….It’s just a myth that he wasn’t a regular.
So he started just over 50% of their premier league games? Or 70% of the ones he was available?
Nonsense from the club. Wilshere is the most important player in the team and needs to be at arsenal until he retires. He’s so important for the identity of the club, and so important for young players coming through. He’s arsenal through and through, and came up through the youth ranks. It would be such a shame seeing him leave. If we can offer Mesut Ozil a lucrative contract then we can offer Wilshere a semi-lucrative contract with incentives that make it a lucrative contract.
The club has shown him to much respect over the years.
Seriously, I’m getting pretty annoyed of him. He always said his dream is to stay at Arsenal throughout his career. Then he decided last year to go on a loan because Wenger couldn’t guarantee him a starting place after he was out for nearly one year. During that year at Bournemouth he managed to make 2 assists and zero goals in an entire season and then got injured again. He signed his last contract worth around 100.000 per week, when he was seen as one of the brightest hopes of English football. After he has scored once during this campaign… Read more »
The only way anyone wouldn’t accept such an offer is if they’re not confident in their abilities. It’s like offering Welbeck a contract dependent on how many goals he scores
”It’s like offering Welbeck a contract dependent on how many goals he scores”
Actually not a bad idea! LOL
Spot on analysis of the situation. I applaud Arsenal for their position in these negotiations. We need to be a bit more realistic in how we rate players and not let sentimentality guide our decision making. If Jack really bleeds for the badge, he wouldn’t have traipsed off to Bournemouth rather than fight for his spot in the squad. If we as a club have more ambition, we can do better, he clearly would be a good squad player but he rates himself higher than that, a mismatch of opinion between Jack and the club, probably time for him to… Read more »
Well said
He has been pretty average this year too. Only reason to really keep him is because of the homegrown status. He can’t play the deep role and we already have Ozil and Henrik in the advanced role.
Also, how awesome was AMN when he came on? That kid is slick.
He had some good games this season and even a few very good ones. But he also still has this ability to run into 3 defenders with his head down and lose the ball quite regularly. Would like to keep him,don’t get me wrong. Think him and Rambo fighting for one place in the team would be a healthy thing. But I see Rambo way above him at the moment. He got 7 goals and 8 assists while Wilshere has 2 goals and 4 assists. Even though he was deployed as one of the front 3 players in the whole… Read more »
And yes, love AMN, too. This kid really could come good over the next years. Even though I have to admit the few occasions where he has played in the CDM role, he wasn’t that great. I think there’s a reason why Arsene deploys him at the LB position at the moment. There are some things in his game, especially his overall awareness, that he has to work on and doing that while playing in the number 6 role will definitely cost you points.
I think we should try Xhaka at left back if that’s the case.
haha
I’m afraid he could lack just a little pace for that.
Do you know that it’s just ‘a little less’? I don’t see Jack talking about the terms on offer, just Wenger. It may well be an absolutely shit deal, in which case it may not be quite as easy as you say. In any case, whatever money the club saves on wages just ends up in Kroenkes pockets, so i find it hard to get passionate about the club offering weak deals to players, and then playing the media to pressure them into signing.
If he goes there is place in the squad for another 100k + player in the squad. I therefore belive whichever way this goes it is positive for Arsenal
Well said. Looks like Arsenal FC is FINALLY evolving before our very own eyes! *tears of happiness well up*
His decision in the end, does he love the club? Would much prefer to keep him but sure he can get more elsewhere without a transfer fee.
We gave diaby endless contracts, we gave santi a new deal the day before his operation.
We will lose jack this year and it now seems he’s fitter than ever and playing well. Honestly think it’s an insult what’s being offered when you see others treated differently.
All players are overpaid that’s a separate issue but in this case he’s being treated unfairly in the scheme of things.
Or—dare I suggest it?—the club has learned from the Diaby and to some extent Cazorla situation.
Well the club is definitely learning. And honestly the impact Diaby and Cazorla has immediately on a return from injury is instant and would influence the game positively. Jack shows heart it is said but i mostly see it as indiscipline. Good squad players but currently not first team material.
I’ve mentioned this before, Wilshere has been in the first team longer than Diaby. So your first argument is a fallacy. As for Santi Cazorla, the man is a genius on a much higher level than Wilshere may ever be. Therefore, it is appropriate a punt be taken on him. And let’s be honest, Wilshere has had many more chances than Cazorla to prove his fitness.
Fair play to him. The club should have sorted this out ages ago. Everyone knows he is Arsenal through and through and they are trying to take advantage of this. If I was him I would take it to the end of the season and see what comes up there will be plenty of offers, then choose one or accept this one with a massive signing on fee.
Really don’t want him to go but he has to do what’s best for himself.
why shoudl arsenal sorted ages before? because he was injured for ages and club didnt let him go and payed his sallary. if anyone believed with him was wenger he was injured for 2 years running ant the club could have let him go now if he is trie arsenal he needs to accept the same salary and sign the new contract and if he stays injury free as he is huge talent he will get his pay rise in a uear time also now his is always starting.
@redfred, ‘plenty of offers’ really? From whom? Better than this one I doubt it
Bye then. But thanks for some of the amazing memories. The one that sticks out is the flicked goal from the flicked Giroud assist…. and then there’s the ……erm …. thats about it. But thanks for that.
The Barcelona game is his highlight at Arsenal. I’ll remember him for that game more than anything else
Oh yeah the almost-beat-barca trophy from almost decade ago. How could I forgot that.
Some of our fans are cunts
Mr Cunt to you 😉
Some of our fans really do look at some of our issues through rose tinted glasses. He’s a limited player blighted by injury and a glass body that has cost the club millions and has never been able to string a decent run together. He cant be counted on, will go in the summer on free and its not a great loss anymore despite how much ‘pashun’ he has……
Fair enough and so we will keep relying on xhaka to come good. A player that’s is nowhere near as good as jack. But fuck it lets go with xhaka and see what happens
Would be a shame to lose him, but attacking midfield is not really a position we are lacking quality is it.
Simply business. Can’t blame either side for the stalemate. Both have options. Recent results aside, playing for AFC is a pretty good place to be. Even those who have left under some measure of acrimony don’t speak ill of the environment.
What do ya’ wanna’ do Jack?
jw1
Not sure what he can get in terms of a contract from other clubs. A solid player, but certainly hasn’t lit the world on fire and to me his form has been dropping from where it was a few months ago.
Wealthy clubs like City, Chelsea, and United (not to mention those abroad) could easily afford to include Jack in their robust squads, and pay him quite handsomely in the process. He’s not dazzling or anything right now, but I don’t think his form is dropping – the team is struggling as a whole to rediscover how to play well, and when we do, consistently, Wilshere will be an important number in that solution (his combativeness and dribbling adds something to any midfield). His dedication to the club should not be undervalued, either, despite our desire for new players when things… Read more »
So Jack could get decent wages from those clubs – but the real question is would he be willing to sit on the bench for them and occasionally play cup games b/c that’s what would happen. He’s a decent squad player but he would not be starting for any of the top 5 clubs.
One of those clubs might pay him because they need a few token English players to make up the homegrown numbers, but he’s be a squad player at best.
The problem, for me, is that the decision is not being made on a football basis. The squad is almost certainly stronger with Jack than with a likely replacement who is paid less. But equally obviously, Arsenal are not willing to overpay (it doesn’t matter if it is really overpaying or not; the point is that the club believe it is). Would Man United do this? (How much is Luke Shaw paid?) Would Man City? So, when Wenger talks about our inability to compete with the richest clubs, this is part of what he means–not just that we can’t buy… Read more »
For years Arsenal overpaid squad players which meant that while we had a relatively flat wage structure (star players didn’t make a ton more than squad players) we had one of the highest wage bills in the PL. That meant that shifting players on was near impossible as no one wanted to match their wages. Jack has been paid virtually his whole career as if he were a star player on another team. We clearly have shifted that model with Ozil’s new contract and are going to pay star players what they would get paid at other top teams. However… Read more »
Wilshere’s only chance of getting a great deal comparable to the likes of Ozil is on a Bosman. He is a good player now for top 10 level team, instead of top 4 team.
So, best of luck to him, not sure if he will be missed anywhere except in the injury update bulletins.
‘Things have changed since then ….’
I hope it isn’t merely greed that’s preventing the extension. Didn’t he once claim he had no need for agents as he never intended to leave Arsenal? Even the manager has always referred to him as an Arsenal man. A moniker that shouldn’t be pinned on just anyone.
I remember reading that if the ‘so called supporters’ hounded AW out, he would leave too!
Maybe he changed his mind after reading some Arsenal fan comments about him and his team mates online.
Regardless of who is the manager beyond this season. I think Arsenal as a club has learnt some lessons from their injury prone players. Diaby, Wilshere,….. dont forget the only season RVP stayed injury free he then decided he is bigger than the club and then left us to drown.
Wilshere’s a very decent player to have in the eleven, adds some oil to the midfield engine and I’m not cynical about the passion he brings to a team of pleasant and talented but often toothless players. The Arsenal connection does mean a lot to me in this age of identikit European professionals.
But without regular goals and without a massive defensive contribution, I just don’t think he is worth a huge contract. It really is that simple.
Getting ramsey to sign an extension is imperative, but getting jack to sign one is a luxury. His performances have been average at best, and playing him in the 10 spot instead of ozil seems like a ploy to get him to extend…
Wilshere is a squad player at best now, and he’s really only getting an extended run in the side because we’ve no one else.
It’s too bad he can’t sign a new deal with the caveat that it can be reviewed in 12 months. If he stays fit for the rest of this campaign and next, he is worth more then they are offering so I can see where he is coming from, he doesn’t want to lock himself in to a bum deal for 3 or 4 years. Would much prefer him to stay then go, but he could easily double his wages with another team when moving on a bosman, especially he is stays fit the rest of the season. I still… Read more »
Wilshire is questioning in no particular order….his ability to stay healthy, the health of his team, the mental health of his teammates, the health of his current managers situation, the mental health of Arsenal fans. He is taking the time to make a big long term decision while using the maturity and experience we all have been encouraging him to develop. I wish him all the best in his decision no matter the choice he makes knowing it is a monumental decision at this point in his and the teams future.
It boils down to what kind of alternative offers there may be for him in the summer.
If other teams view his injury liability in similar vein, he may decide we are best option.
But we need a character like him regardless to provide a bit of bite in midfield.
If I were the club, I would not be too hung up about this injury clause.
We have enough issues to deal with reinforcing in midfield (and other areas) this summer as is.
I know it’s always annoying to read comments saying “I know from a very good source…..” but I did hear from a very, very good source that his agent has a contract with Liverpool ready to sign for more money than Arsenal are offering, and is recommending him to sign it…….but Jack wants to stay at Arsenal and is holding out to see if Wenger / Gazidis keep their collective heads in the sand…..
…….if true it makes my rock bottom opinion of Gazidis that much lower
People on here aren’t being realistic. Put yourself in his shoes, would you take a paycut even if you loved your job and company? And at a time when others are getting their salary doubled and your company is the 7th richest in the world? If you’re actually being honest you wouldn’t be happy about that at all
The question also becomes, would another company take me on given my availability for work over the last five years?
Premier League footballers live in a completely different world to the rest of us when it comes to things like salary, and we cannot really use analogies from our lives. Being on 80k instead of 100k a week impacts very little on their lifestyle, I suspect its more a dent in pride than the actual difference in wages that would upset Wilshere.
First of all Jack made 27 appearances for Bournemouth last season and has already made 28 for us this season, and was available for more earlier on too. If Arsenal really thought he wouldn’t be fit at all they wouldn’t be offering him a contract full stop, instead he’d be written off as another Diaby.
And secondly, pride is very, very important. To use my example again, if you were doing the same job as your colleague but they were getting a pay rise and you were getting a pay cut, how would you feel?
sure but then he has to go find someone willing to pay him what he wants which likely means either sitting on the bench at a top club or going down the league
Referring to what David Hillier\’s luggage said it’s probably no longer just about the pay now, it’s about pride. So from that point of view, yes Wilshere could potentially take a pay cut elsewhere if he feels he’s been messed about here
A career is short. If he wants to do that simply of wounded pride then good luck to him. He has something to add as a squad player but he’s not exactly irreplaceable either
No one is irreplaceable. But why we’re offering one of our best performers this season (admittedly that isn’t saying much) a worse deal than what he’s already on is simply beyond me. Just smacks of us trying to be clever only for it to blow up in our faces (again). Any other club would have offered him something sensible and be done with it, but we just don’t do sensible at Arsenal do we?
Bc honestly no matter how much people love jack he’s not good enough to be a key cog in a title challenging side. He hasn’t been great but he gets a lot of credit bc he’s home grown and gives the appearance of caring (I’ll discipline imo). Expectations were pretty low for him this year as well which makes a difference
Funny because I’d say recently he’s one of the few players in the team that look like they could actually be part of a top 4 side, let alone a title winning side. And I’m certainly not alone in that thinking either. If you gave the squad a hard look there aren’t many players more naturally technically gifted than him, perhaps there’s only one. At any rate we’re not exactly flush with fantastic CM options, nor will we be the first choice destination for the best in that position. As I said before, if we were being sensible we’d just… Read more »
The whole cm needs to be guttted. Jack is too slow and offers too little end product to be a key player at this point. His technical ability is solid but it’s not close to Santi who he’s effectively replacing. He can be a valuable squad member but if you take off your arsenal glasses he likely would be only a squad player for a top 4 team. We need a new manager at this point as so many players are under performing but apart from Ozil, Aubameyang, mik and Bellerin (clearly he has a ton of potential given Juventus… Read more »
Disagree that Jack is too slow, in fact he’s one of the few players we have that can drive with the ball. And his ‘lack of end product’ is a consequence of (a) his relatively deep positioning in a 3-4-3 and (b) the natural/tactical tendency for this team to defer to Ozil. I’d understand the complaints more if Wilshere was a forward or a 10 but with the first team he’s mostly played this season as a deep lying CM. And again he’s one of the few Arsenal players to emerge from this season with any kind of credit at… Read more »
Jack has actually been given license to push forward & when we’ve played the 3 man midfield he’s basically functioned like a #10. As I said above I think the reason Jack has shone in your eyes is simply b/c he’s Jack. If any other Arsenal players put in the performances he has this year you would likely view them as very average. He’s played well relative to others in the team but that’s not where the bar is set. He’s a player who had immense potential and for whatever reason (injuries or the fact that many simply don’t live… Read more »
we have one of if not the world’s best #10 in ozil and he’s on a massive deal = the next manager needs to build the squad around getting the most out of him. that likely means a 2 man midfield with a proper DM so that ozil can slot back into the #10. that means Jack is competing with Ramsey for one spot. I’m not a huge fan of either but Ramsey offers far more end product than Jack does.
We don’t know what will happen in the future so to me it just makes sense to keep Jack. The fact that he’s having a contract dispute doesn’t mean we should let blatant revisionism over his performances or position cloud our better judgement. At any rate, if he signs we’ll all be saying his world class again
We’ve very rarely played the 3 in midfield and when we played the two we were praising Wilshere for showing the defensive restraint that Ramsey lacked. So frankly it’s incredible that we’re comparing him unfavourably to Ramsey now. You can say his performances have been very average (they haven’t been) but when everyone else is below average that makes him one of the best. Also you still haven’t mentioned who this Jack replacement would be that we could get for cheaper than extending his contract. And we can’t second guess what kind of formation our next manager might want to… Read more »
Arsenal has already allowed Szczesny to leave and now Wilshere is thinking it. I suppose he’s going to how the season ends for the team and how Arsene will reinforce the squad for next season and at the end of the day he has the right to do so. That’s how bad the club is right now that our most loyal (good) players and also fans of the club are leaving. Arsenal must offer him a proper contract extention.
Jack gave it away in bad spots three, four times yesterday.
Ramsey deserves more respect than him. Everyone loves Wilshere for what? Yet everyone abuses Ramsey. Ramsey has won us 2 FA cups.
I think the club would do well to ‘swap’ Jack for a more defensive minded player to balance the midfield a bit.
It sounds like they’re shortchanging him. It is annoying because you can see Wilshere still has quality, but boy has he lost pace and acceleration. I can understand why Arsenal is adopting this line as well. Not happy about it but if he goes, he goes.
Not sure we need him but we do need a player like him for sure. An injury free and slightly better version of him. That would be nice.
I said in the summer that Jack is a luxury at the moment because of his injury history, however, that position has changed to some extent. His relatively injury free season last year and this year for us strengthens the belief that he can be very important for us once again. On the other side of this, it’s understandable that the club want to be cautious with a new deal. He hadn’t exactly shown why he should be paid any higher than he’s on now, and you could argue that he hasn’t really shown why he shouldn’t be paid less.… Read more »
IMO – Wilshere is not good enough for the starting eleven of any top team in the premier league. Hence Arsenal cannot afford having him on starter wages.
Meh.. We’ll be ok, either way. He sometimes may be good, sometimes may be $h!t.
It’s about power, and under no circumstance should JW be dictating terms. Love Jack, but a big well done to the club for standing firm.