Jack Wilshere has been a name synonymous with potential stardom for a number of years now.
Almost anyone who has had an interest in the glorious game, despite their personal allegiance, agreed that Wilshere was destined for big things and could possibly be our biggest midfield star since Paul Gascoigne.
In the plus boxes he is an immensely passionate player, who has a superb football brain. He also has the ability to pass over distance to an advancing player’s feet and works tirelessly for the team.
On the negative side, his career has been an endless story of injury and indiscretions. Pictures of Jack smoking, boozing, brawling and playing up to the press image of a modern star have damaged him greatly.
In terms of absences from the game, Wilshere has suffered frequent injuries to his ankle, also to his hamstring and he suffered a broken fibula in pre season 2015/16 leaving the fans and Manager extremely frustrated.
He was shunted out to Bournemouth last season and picked up yet another injury, against Spurs of all teams, just when it looked like he had turned a corner physically.
His rehabilitation seemed to be going well and he was clocking up playing time with the under 23’s but only this week, the player found himself the subject of more unwanted attention.
The 25-year-old was playing against the Manchester City Under-23s when all hell broke loose in the 63rd minute. Wilshere reacted to a hefty and unnecessary challenge from City’s Matt Smith.
After he was sent crashing to the ground after passing the ball, the Arsenal ace retaliated by pushing the City Man to the ground and was involved in further altercations with other City personnel.
I for one thought that he reacted the way he did because of the fear of further injury, I don’t condone in but I get it. So now we are back to speculating about this fabulously talented midfielder and his future at the Emirates.
He is fairly fortunate at present, Cazorla is still recovering from long term injury, Ozil is failing to impress and Ramsey is lacking the form of three or four seasons ago when he was probably the best midfielder in the Country.
Recent displays have also shown that Arsenal are struggling creatively and if I were Wenger, I’d drop him in the middle sooner rather than later.
Both Wilshere and Wenger may share the same fate if the club doesn’t progress this year. So it has all the makings of a classic football tale, one where the forgotten man comes back from the brink and saves the manager in the process.
It’s time for Jack to get back on track and become the midfield genius he has threatened to be for far too many years. Wenger likes the player, admitting as much at a recent press conference but he may have to off load him if he fails to deliver consistently.
This may be a bit much for those, like myself, that have lambasted Mesut Ozil for his inconsistency over the last few seasons.
Wenger seems oblivious to the Germans shortcomings but is curiously aware of Wilshere’s.
Football has a tendency to write its own stories from time to time, fingers crossed, Wilshere follows the script, becomes Captain and wins the Premiership.
Fact is sometimes stranger than fiction.
