The Arsenal legend Thierry Henry is well aware of Jack Wilshere’s latent talent as a fiery midfielder, but he is worried that his long absence from the game through injury means that he will not be ready to set Europe on fire in France next month, as a lack of competitive football may be his undoing.
Thierry admitted that Roy Hodgson may feel that he simply has to take such a “special” player in the squad,but has his recervations. “It was a case of him getting back to a certain fitness so that he can go, based on his talent I don’t think there is a question,” Henry said.
“When a guy is special he is treated in a special way.
“He needs to have some match fitness. It is one thing to go but can you play? If you go and you can’t perform, well that is another thing.
“You can train for eight months and think you are fit but once you play that first game, you sometimes need a month to get back to that level.”
Jack played for an hour against Australia in the Lions last warm-up game, and the England boss thinks that both he and Jordan Hnderson, who is also returning from injury, have proved that they can handle themselves on the pitch. Hodgson said: “They’ve played games.
“Both of them are a little bit short of match fitness but certainly Jack Wilshere the last couple of games shows that lack of match fitness isn’t very evident. I thought he was very good in the first half he played today.
“And Jordan got through part of the game against Turkey and the whole game today without any particular problems. I will be pretty confident in two weeks’ time they’ll be even fitter than they are today.”
So it looks like Jack will be going to the Euros, but will he match-fit enough to do justice to his ability?