Jack Wilshere says he idolised Dennis Bergkamp when he was a child and hopes to improve his goal tally now he’s got his hands on the Dutchman’s coveted number ten shirt.
The midfielder, who made a welcome return to first team action at the weekend, also praised the influence of departed captains Patrick Vieira and Cesc Fabregas while stressing that competition for places has made the Arsenal squad as silverware-hungry as ever.
“I’m always looking to improve every aspect of my game,” the 20-year-old told Sport Locker.
“Before I got injured, I wasn’t getting forward enough and didn’t score enough goals, so that’ll be something I’m looking to do this year and I’ll hopefully get a few more for the team.
“I looked up to Dennis Bergkamp,” he continued.
“He was number ten and I was wearing number ten in the reserves and the youth team.
“As a midfielder there was Vieira who was always the leader and then Cesc, who’s not really that much older than me but was in the team from a young age, so he was one I always looked up to as well.”
While the likes of Fabregas and Samir Nasri have left during Wilshere’s 17 months on the sidelines, the player doesn’t feel the club has lost its competitive edge in the centre of the park.
“I think you can see that there’s great competition now throughout midfield. That’s what players need – if you’re guaranteed a place every week maybe you can just go easy, but with the competition we have at Arsenal in midfield I think it’s good for everybody.
“Looking at partnerships we’ve got Abou Diaby and Mikel Arteta as well. I’ve never played with Mikel Arteta and he’s been at Arsenal a year, so I’m excited about playing with all of them.”
Obviously optimistic about the future now that he’s back kicking a ball again, Wilshere also laid bare the desire of his teammates to finally end a trophy drought which now dates back seven years.
“Every year we have a meeting and we plan to fight on all fronts – this year is the same and we’ll see how it goes. We’ve started well enough in the league, obviously we’ve got the domestic cups and we want to do well in the Champions League.
“I think with a club like Arsenal you have got to look to win everything. It’s hard because obviously you’ve got Man City, Chelsea and Man United to compete with but you still have to look to win everything.”
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To read the full interview with Wilshere, visit Sport Locker.
Love him. True Gunner.
Who would dislike this comment?
That Dutch guys obviously been here
The Dutch Skunk is everywhere tonight
Love me until I`m old enough to grow a little boy inside of me as well 😉
He even spat on a cabbie for being a sp*rs fan
Very weird to think he’s never really played alongside Arteta. This lad’s been out too long. Lets hope we get an extra 17 months out of him when he gets older. Convinced he’ll be at Arsenal until retirement.
so his football age is 18? And Diaby is… 12 and a half??
Follow in Dennis footsteps….?
You don’t leave footsteps in water mate…..
That might be the single, best comment to ever be made on here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCEXkik6Iuk
AGREED
I believe you’re talking about footprints mate, not footsteps.
Dennis would know….
Must you live so relentlessly in the real world?
I hope he didn t mean that he is afraid of flying? 🙂
Tou-FUCKING-che…..
Single greatest comment Ive read on Arseblog in 6,7,8 years (lost count) been reading….
Bergkamp willshare the shoes.
I wonder if Dennis is thinking “i will like to be in jack’s place start the arsenal romance once again”.
Well if you want to look up to anyone Jack……….you can’t get much better than Dennis.
I hope Jack goes on to become as legendary as Bergkamp. He loves the club so he won’t be leaving anytime soon (if ever)
awww bless. like cesc loved the club, and patrick viera and samir nasri and robin van pervie ? it’s a job and the business is riddled with badge kissers, arteta loved everton and regularly dribbled on the badge.
The exciting thing is that he just such a different player to what has come before and so it’s impossible to pigeonhole him as the next vieira/fabregas/whatever. He’s like a composite of all the great’s best features and abilities. The kid’s got so much potential it’s scary. Lets just hope he keeps going strong
Telling that he leaves out Van Persie.
I love how he doesn’t even mention the Spuds along with the other top clubs. Ha ha..
well if anyone could, it’s him
it’s hard not to get carried away pinning our hopes (short and long term) on him, but damn he makes it so hard!
Bergkamp was Arsenals best no.10.
Wilshere had a great attitude and I hope he equals him or even better him. He’ll most probably better him as he is young and quite frankly gold.
And like Bergkamp himself please retire with us!
“He’ll most probably better him”
Not getting our expectations up too much I see.
Hey look, a driven and ambitious player, let’s cash in on him.
Perhaps you’re forgetting what drove the ambitions of most of our dearly departed.
Stop kidding yourself with the money excuse. No good player wants to retire with no trophies to his name. Besides, we reward mediocrity pretty handsomely.
Unless we sort our club out and increase our ambition, Wilshere will be gone in 3 seasons.
As it happens I’m not claiming there’s no danger at all of losing Jack in a few years if we continue to drift. Mostly I want to counter the view that in general the club (Wenger?) would seize any chance to sell a valuable player irrespective of whether that player has set their heart on leaving.
reminds me of Brady, possibly the greatest ever midfielder to wear an Arsenal shirt
There was a point during the QPR game when jack skipped past a fella and i yelled to my elder bro ”This guy dey play ball!” (pidgin english here in Nigeria) Thats, ”this guy is good!” Heh. Couldn’t resist it, could I? This lad gets me excited
Bergkamp was the master its laughable when united fans compare cantona to bergkamp he wasnt near his class, wilshere can be our next number 10 hero
At no point does he even mention robin van cuntsie. heh.
heh.
heh.
heh.
heh.
What?
Sometimes I truly miss Bergkamp.
But at the same time I’m very excited about what this young lad can bring us.
Sometimes… *sigh*
HA HA
Believe me Jackie boy, we all want you to follow in DB10’s footsteps as well! There couldn’t be a better roll model for someone as young and talented and die hard Arsenal as JW#10 is than Bergkamp. If Bergkamp walks on water that doesn’t mean that Jack can’t run across water at a blistering pace!
Lol…….we are being beaten….lol.
We are out of the league cup lol!
Have some of that, and lol up your ass, clown! hahahahahahahahahahaha
Bergkamp was a world class striker, absolutely world class – a legend whereas Jack Wilshere is an injury prone, over rated dwarf who should spend more energy getting fit than publishing this crap – world class he is not, Arsenal’s new Bergkamp ha – what a joke..
Go back to where you came from. We don`t do sense in these parts.
At least being out of the league cup we can now concentrate on not winning the premiership, not winning the champions league and not winning the FA cup..
Lolllllll…
And at Arsenal we are just not good enough for squad rotation an as it seems not good enough for the COC. LOL HOW SHIT ARE WE?
At least reading won’t make a DVD out of this (I hope)…
Surely time for an IMPROBABLE COMEBACK?
Yeah, something like that.
Yep, 4-4-2 is the best formation ever!
WALCOTT FOR STRIKER, GIROUD FOR BENCH
HIS SPEED IS JUST A BONUS PLUS HE HAS TERRIFIC FINISHING. BETTER THAN RVP INFACT.
I told my mate after the first goal went in, that I hoped that I wouldn’t be a rout. My hopes crushed.
We need to stop playing 4-3-3 every game. You need excellent players for that. Let’s go back to 4-4-2 at least in games like this.
we want our Arsenal back too they must have been abducted by aliens
This is just great cause now Walcott has scored no matter how hard I try not to, I’m gonna end up watching the second half, as painful as it probably will be
Looking forward to manure now!
Bring it on.
And to think somebody said koscienly should be ahead of vermaelen?. Please!!!
Theo has proved everytime that he has what it takes 2 play striker especially for the first team
with players behind him like Arteta Cazorla
Wilshere Why not get the best out of our squad
and play 442 with theo and chamkh or podolksi
put gervinho on the wing and play through balls.
Chamak is suddenly our play maker?
Well we can cross one trophy of our list
jumped the gun there son!
HAHAH!!!! i certainly did! i fucking love being wrong!!
HOLY.
SHIT.
FOOOKIN YESSS
HOLY COW!!!!!
Late night = well spent
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
My flatmates thought I was crazy when I shouted out at the equalizer. Fuck me.
Who saw one arsenal fan leave the stadium before even half time?. What an arsehole. He should never be allowed to a game ever again. Up the arse!!!!!!!
Walcott MOTM.
And Eisfeld is just way too soft!
It’s way past my bed time and I dont even care.
Chammmaaaakh…..!!!!!!!!!!!
Chamakhhhhhhh
Chamakh that, all on the floor, chamakh that give me some more, chamakh that till you get sore wooooooaaohhhhh
Hahahahahahahahahahah, it just wouldn’t be arsenal if we didn’t go and fucking concede the lead after fighting for two hours to get it. Good lord.
Fuck off we score late you forgot about that.
What. A. Game!
Only one team capable of doing such things.
Chamakh brace. Maybe the world rwally is gonna end in 2012
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamaaaaaaaaaazing. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
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Praise Bergkamp
Dennis Bergkamp was a wonderful player. I hope Jack Wilshere meets the same success in the field.