Jack Wilshere has hinted that his time at Arsenal is coming to an end with a post on Instagram in which he speaks about a ‘new chapter’.
The 26 year old use a picture of him and his kids taken on the day of the Burnley game, the midfielder sporting a ‘Merci Arsene’ t-shirt.
Of course he could be talking about a new chapter at Arsenal under new head coach Unai Emery, but it seems more likely that he will leave on a free when his contract expires at the end of next month.
Arsene Wenger seemed confident that Wilshere would sign new terms, and there were reports of an improved offer, but all that was before the departure of the Frenchman after 22 years in charge.
New man Emery may well fancy something different in his midfield, and for the player himself it may well be a good time to move on.
He can sign a big contract at another club, the Bosman ruling means he can get a signing on fee paid across the length of his contract, providing real financial security, as well as a better chance of regular first team football.
Midfield is a key area of investment for the club this summer, and with other options in the squad that might suit Emery’s style of football better, this could be the end of a long-term relationship between academy graduate Wilshere and Arsenal.
Let’s see what happens.
Maybe he’s writing a book.
I was initially sad to read these news, but your comment made me chuckle real good
+1
Spoiled little brat, taking out the emotional connection he has with arsenal, we’re a better squad without him. I’d much rather give his spot to AMN.
I’m conflicted… Don’t know whether to thumb you up or thumb you down… Oh wait…
He may very well leave, but am I the only one who read the “next chapter” part of his post to mean his life as a father of three/growing family?
wouldn’t he post a picture of the 3 kids then? kind of bizarre to talk about a new chapter in terms of a growing family and then leave the new kid out of it
Maybe, but just to flip it around, if he was talking about his career wouldn’t his post reference more than his family? I am not trying to say you or anyone else is wrong, but that I am not so sure it is so cut and dry that it is a post referencing the end of his Arsenal career. We shall see, though!
He posted two pictures in that instagram post – if you flip to the second, you see his older daughter holding the new little one, and all 3 kids are present. but I’m leaning towards this being a hint that he’s leaving too…
If you slide right he has posted a photo of the three kids…
You‘re not. And even if it’s not that I find it more likely that he meant the new chapter at Arsenal than a new chapter in reference to a new club. But let’s wait and see. Going to be interesting months till the season starts. And then it will be even more interesting.
It seems likely because his future is clearly dependent on playing time, which we’re fairly certain he may not get a lot of given his current situation as an athlete at Arsenal.
Yes, you are. ?
i had the same thought…that perhaps this new chapter refers to the new arrival to the family, and may not necessarily be a reference to a move to a new club.
If true, its a shame.
There is a wonderful player inside him somewhere.
All depends on whether our new manager will indulge him.
Personally I would still like him to be at Arsenal primarily because of his love for the club and hopefully he will get another chance to prove himself.
I read a lot about emery and the way he sets up the team and one thing that I could understand was that the way emery wants his team to play I dont think there is a place for wilshere , not atleast as a first teamer. ozil is defacto no10 and mkhitrian iwobi welbeck and lacazette fights for other attacking positions. that leaves us two or three attacking midfield positions depending on if he plays with two centre midfielders or three. the kind of centre midfielders emery always plays are the ones with stamina strength and one that will… Read more »
Emery’s team always has a creative attacking lynchpin like juan mata at valencia, ever banega at sevilla, marco verrati at psg. Wilshere might just be the right one to play in the position provided he can maintain injury free. Especially with the limited transfer budget emery could choose one player within his disposal and use the transfer money to improve the defence.
Ozil? Mkhi? We’re pretty well stocked in the creative attacking position.
They will need to move players out who can challenge them and be more “Arsenal men” than them. Jack wont fit in.
Many of the first team are going to work their socks off and are likely to struggle to remain in the team as there seem to be no fire in them in the latter days of Arsene as he indulged them while they let him down. I’m going to love this new chapter.
I realize it’s a minority opinion but it wouldn’t be the worst thing from a team perspective if Jack moved on (frees up wages) and Ramsey was sold. One of the biggest problems under Wenger was there really wasn’t a coherent plan in terms of how players we brought in fit into the team. As Tim pointed out, Ramsey really only plays well with a Xhaka type, but then that messes up Ozil & Xhaka as we don’t have the DM both of them need. I realize it won’t be popular, but I’m ok if the new regime moves on… Read more »
Wilshere yes Ramsey no. Welsh Jesus will smite u for such nonsense.
Ramsey’s a really good player but he’s hurt a lot and our team just doesn’t function that well with him unless we shunt Ozil out to the wing in which case kind of have to question why we signed Ozil to a massive contract. Ramsey and Ozil really need to be competing for the same role.
I agree with your point and line of reasoning. Makes lots of sense bearing in mind that Emery likes a natural defensive midfielder playing in the base of his midfield formation. Unless he has a different plan and formation going forward at Arsenal.
Rambo and Wilshere should just share one player’s salary since they’re always hurt. Sign them up as a duo!
But seriously, I really think we need to keep Rambo over Wilshere. Elneny or AMN easily cover for Wilshere’s departure.
Unai does prefer a proper DM. But if we play 433, then the midfield 3 could well be a proper DM with either Ramsey/Miki or Ramsey/Wilshere.
ramsey never . there are not a lot of players that can change the game from midfield with goals and assists. ramsey is one of them . I really think if we loose ramsey it will be a big lose
Ramsey has absolutely no positional discipline, and he’s always injured, or working his way back from injury for a fair part of the season. I’d be happy to sell Ramsey and let Wilshere leave, they both epitomise the worst of the Arsene Wenger years. We could then add two top quality midfielders and promote a new generation of Arsenal youth, who will be equally as Arsenal through and through. Hopefully we now have a manager who will select his team on merit, not favouritism.
I tend to agree with you, it wouldn’t be the worst thing if both moved on. Personally, I’d prefer Ramsey stay if possible (& that seemed to be something Emery was keen on judging from his early comments). I think it’s time for the club (& the player) to face the facts about Jack: the player we all hoped would blossom is not going to materialize.
Would be a real loss for us as that shimy against Burnley before the burst of pace to set up Kolasinac’s goal was vintage Jack, and he’s been a key figure in the build-ups of quite a few of our goals at the end of the season. He is not irreplaceable, of course, and we might want to create room for other youngsters to ply their trade in the midfield, but I’d rather see Jack with us doing his thing than somewhere else. The reports that Emery is focused on Ramsey and Auba around which to build his squad might… Read more »
With respect to ‘vintage Jack’,Therein lies the problem. The shimmy aside, exactly on how many occasions have we been fortunate to witness ‘vintage Jack’?Not many. That match against Barcelona seduced us all into thinking we had our own Xavi/Iniesta. The notion that he will come good is redundant given his age. It is rather unfortunate but I for one welcome wholesale changes to the team if it’s for the collective good of the club. If he is moving on then he would have nothing but my full support.
Only goal we scored over two legs against Atletico, the 2nd placed team at La Liga, comes to mind. Quite recent.
I disagree; despite showing signs of fatigue in the last few months, JW has also played some inspired football and contributed decisively to the buildups of some fine goals recently. That match against Barcelona did not seduce all of us; JW was never going to be a Xavi/Iniesta, and it was wrong-footed to label him as such. He is as Wenger has always described him: he possesses excellent ball control, a deft ability to dribble out of trouble, an explosive burst of pace (finally evidenced in April and May), and delicious combativeness. I don’t think it would be a travesty… Read more »
Jack plays like a 40 year old, he’s never fit, and when he is fit he’s mostly anonymous. The eagle eyed Wilshere supporters will always find a magical moment or two, or revert to the old “pashun” nonsense. I think he can easily be replaced for the salary that he reportedly wants.
Maybe because he had a kid
Maybe we’re reading too much into this and what he really means is that he’s going to cut down his children’s bedtime so they could watch some of those USB tactics videos and summarize them for him in the morning?
Thumbed up…Lol
You’ve got both my thumbs up!
Thumbs up too.
Its all cryptic.
Could be the kid, new chapter at Arsenal or somewhere-else.
He’s a mystery that Jack.
…or he could be writing a book to beat Wenger to it.;)
I think it might mean a few things. Arsenal/Ivan recently said that emery signing was a ‘new chapter’ when signing his book. Jack has always had Arsene as manager and the pair are close apparently. Jack has just had a new baby. It’s a merci Arsene picture. Those 4 things make me believe he MIGHT be alluring to his father figure leaving his everyday life and working under a new manager at arsenal. If it was a family thing he would post a ‘personal’ photo of them all. Would you put it past Jack to intentionally mislead fans n the… Read more »
Yeah he is probably seeing how much Arsenal fans still love him, and that will always be a huge factor in whether he stays or not.
If he really wanted to leave there would be huge transfer speculation coming from his agent already.
How Emery constructs the midfield will be very interesting. I think Wenger already plays something similar to what Emery did with PSG. We are almost a 4-3-3 with ability to switch to a 4-1-3-2 (diamond mid) or a more traditional 4-2-3-1 Reinforcing around Granit may be the key. Jack has been decent next to Granit complementing him (as Elneny). BUT whether Jack can sustain the same level of performance through 4 or 5 matches (never mind whole season) is the issue. Another player that shows hints of being able to link and carry is Iwobi. He has natural strength, good… Read more »
IF Jack leaves, we will have position for a strong mid to come in like Seri or Ndombele or Kongdogbia. Whoever comes in should bring a bit of power and aggression but also quick feet to carry the ball through the middle. We already have Granit to quick release the forwards with his long accurate passing. To some extent Elneny can provide a bit of this as well. We will need someone who can move up field with the ball like Santi did and Diaby but also have technical ability to hold and turn in tight confines under pressure to… Read more »
Jesus, that’s reading a lot into what was probably a casual comment about the club’s new chapter.
Sounds more like blogs’ wishful thinking.
Bye Felicia
Maybe he is getting brand spanking new underwear. I know I’d be excited.
Just don’t get too excited. You wanna keep them new underpants new.
Please leave
I kind of feel that too much is being read into those comments because he is starting a new chapter with a new child in his life plus a new manager at the club. However, I suspect the style of play that Emery is rumoured to play might not suit Jack as he has seemed off the pace quite a bit in the latter part of the season. Whatever he chooses to do I wish him well.
What if literally means what he’s said? Perhaps he’s just a slow reader and he’s about to start a new chapter of the book he’s reading?
Think this may hinge on how Ozil will fit into the style of play. That is Unai’s first task, to see if Ozil can manage a pressing style. At PSG the only player who didn’t have to move from his position that much was the centre forward. The right sided forward come inside onto his left foot but was tasked with tracking back. Something which was missing heavily when Arsene brought the 4231 back and we got punished over and over again. I can’t see Ozil playing central. And if he can’t handle tracking back out wide then Unai’s preference… Read more »
Would be sorry to see him go but it could be the best thing for all concerned.
If he goes, bye then.
Never fulfilled his potential and hardly will be a world class midfielder, but still a good player for teams like Newcastle, Bournemouth, West Ham etc.
We should focus on Ramsey signing dat ting. Emery could use a guy like him, like he had Banega (Sevilla) and Rabiot and Lo Celso (PSG)
He’s done nothing to warrant a new deal, let him leave and give some more game time to Niles.
I just want to give a thumbs up to the thumbs up/down function being back.
Is this all part of the strategising in the new contract negotiations?
Anything connected to Wenger and the previous era will need to be burnt away. A new fresh Arsenal is needed. Earlier the club was identified with Wenger, the Manager.
Now theres a Head coach, a CEO, a Director, a Recruitment head. Its a new way, a new identity. It is now Kroenke’s club finally and fully.
I think we should try and keep him. And if it doesn’t work out, sell at the end of the season. At least it would inject some cash into the club rather than a free transfer. It’s not like he’s a shit player either. I know he hasn’t been amazing and change is coming, but we also get a lot of injuries and one CM has left already (Cazorla). Leaving us with Ramsey, Elneny, Xhaka and the rest would be untested or make shift CM. Let’s be honest, Elneny is not a a CM that should start and play in… Read more »