The Jack Wilshere Saga by Uche
Coming off the back of our most successful transfer window in as long as I can remember, one would have thought that finally, Arsenal and Arsene Wenger will get the credit they deserve. But not so. Why doesn’t this surprise me? Manchester United spent 100 million pounds on Paul Pogba and we spent the same amount securing the services of Granit Xhaka, Shkodran Mustafi, Lucas Perez, Rob Holding, Takamu Asano and kelechi Nwakali. There is no debate about who spent their 100 million better but here we are. Instead what are we talking about? Jack Wilshere being loaned out to Bournemouth. Perfect.
Let us put this matter to bed, shall we? If Jack Wilshere wasn’t British, this loan move wouldn’t generate the amount of controversy that it has. Let us look at some facts. Contrary to what Keowon just said, Wilshere is not Arsenal’s best left footed midfielder. To say that is to claim that he is better than Ozil and Carzola and that is not true. Ozil has no equal and Carzola is in the Spanish national team. Can Wilshere get into the Spanish national team? Secondly, if we were to put Jack in our first eleven, who exactly will he displace? Francis? Absolutely not. Coquelin is our only true defensive midfielder. What about Xhaka? Not in a million years. Xhaka is class, tall, strong and commanding. Unlike Wilshere, he cannot be brushed off the ball. He is a pass master who can make both short and long passes, infact, nobody makes precise long passes better than Xhaka. We got a taste of it against Watford and he is just getting started. Perez, Alexis and Walcot will have a field day running behind defences chasing Xhaka’s long passes. Is Jack Wilshere better than Elneny? Of course not. Elneny is taller, stronger, passes better, rarely loses the ball and has the engine of a tow truck. Don’t even get me started with Ramsey because he beats Wilshere in every department. Jack is diminutive, always gets injured, constantly runs into traffic and is our most fouled player. His final ball is lacking too and he rarely scores goals.
After all these years, we finally built ourselves that fabled spine of steal consisting of a world class goalie (Peter Cech), a world class Defense ( Koscielny, Mustafi), a world class play maker (Maestro Mesut Ozil) and a soon to be world class fox in the box (Lucas Perez). That is the story of the decade as far as Arsenal transfer history is concerned but here we are here talking about Jack Wilshere.
Campbell got loaned out and he is a decent player. Chambers got loaned out too. He is not first team material. Not yet and neither is Jack. So why oh why do we have to feel that Wilshere is being maltreated by being loaned out? Can somebody please explain this to me? Unlike Walcot, Ox, Sanchez and Iwobi, Wilshere cannot play on the wings. So whose fault is it that he finds himself in this situation? For years we waited for him and the likes of Diaby to get fit and realize their potential and that hasn’t happened. And while we were waiting, he was cashing millions while smoking, getting into fights and playing scrabble with Arsenal Physios.
The competition is fiercer than ever now in the premier league and this Arsenal team has moved on. We have invested well over the years and finally built a squad that even Jack Wilshere cannot get into. That is a good thing my friends. That is a good thing. Let him go to Bournemouth and grow up. If he does, he just might be good enough for our bench. Just take a look at Manchester United’s bench. You will see the likes of Herrera, Mhikitarian and Schneiderlin sitting there and not getting games. That is what a title winning bench looks like and correct me if I am wrong but we still want to win titles, right? Peace.
Uche Edochie
Lagos – Nigeria
Agree that Jack should go on loan and with his current form, he may not even be on the bench.
But at the same time, I don’t think we should give up on him. Anyone who watch him in the 2010/2011 knows how good he can be. His performance versus Barcelona dream team with Xavi/Iniesta is kind of phenomenal, he completely bossed the midfield in that game – years later, Xavi still remembered Jack.
I love Cazorla but he is not young any longer and Jack would be an ideal choice to replace him – I wish Jack to have an injury free campaign, play lots of game and come back next season as the player we always expect him to be
Stop please!! I can’t take it anymore!!!! We keep talking about Wiltshire?????really????he is gone!,stop this obsessions about Wiltshire concentrate with rest of Arsenal players they deserve your attention, not Bournemouth player, he ask to go on loan nobody force him to go, he just realised that he will be getting more play time away from Arsenal, to get to the first 11 you must be top player,you must beat the competition he just realised that he is not good enough!!!! Just let him were he is, stop crying he will be back in one year time! If he can outshine Ozil, Xacka, Coquellin, Carzola, Elneny or Jeff Adelaide ,Zelalem will will surpass him !!Only concern is which treatment he will get at Spuds when the play Bournemouth .
You could at the very least get his ******* name right. Obviously not a real Arsenal fan!
Wilshere is beter then eleny in any case. anyway maybi this is good move after all those injuries. But remember Wilshere is strong character. He ll bounce back in january or summer.
No fuss, is just that Jack is “one of us”. It is very sentimental for many. Personally I felt more attached to Diaby than Wilshere but that’s just me. I probably should start not caring about players at the AFC so that they be free of injuries.
In other news, Lucas got the dreaded number 9 shirt. Godammit! I hoped he will refuse it. Godammit! Seriously.
I agree with everything barring 2 points
Walcott & Ramsey sorry but both are useless and both are living off 1 decent season each.
Walcott just isn’t a footballer in my eyes his 140k wages is criminal and that’s wengers fault, Ramsey I think after the 13/14 season we all thought he has kicked on and finally shown us what he’s made of but the gut has transgressed ever since. Is it him believing he’s better then he actually is or just bottling it when the public eye is firmly on you and it’s not “promise/potential” but more so expected of you to well.
I personally never rated him & think it’s definitely because of wengers fixation about “British core” he consistently overlooks ramseys shocking performances the guy hasn’t contributed jack all for the last 2 seasons.
Prime example of wenger showing favouritism is the ruthless and disgracefull treatment of Joel Campbell and Gnabry, both extremely talented and have never truly been given a chance.
I agree with you totally…I think the reason fans feel bad about Wilshere’s loan move is mainly because of his love for the afc which is a good thing but IMO is not good enough…
For me it’s simple Jack needs game time and to regain his mojo! Good luck to him it’s in his own hands now. I’d like to talk about Gnabry. What’s people’s views about him leaving? I was surprised to see on the Sky coverage how emotional he was.
Gnabry basically forced the move out of Arsenal, even the players father was dissapointed with him, for doing so. Maybe thats the main reason why Gnabry looked emotional on Sky? … His old man was still busting his balls ?
Nice Article Uche. ?
who’s next in line?… Ramsey or Walcott?
Fatboy I see the bookmakers are taking bets on Jack Wheelchair getting injured again as usual
Hahaha ? Yes, I saw that too. Hahaha ?
They are taking bets on him getting injured on his debut.
But What’s the odds on him getting injured before that? ?
He always finds new ways to injure himself,he’ll probably get a finger injury from a shisha pipe which will somehow lead to a knee injury which will somehow lead to a toe injury which will have him out for about 6 weeks which turn into 9 months
That sounds like a Frank Spencer moment, to me.
(For those who are older enough to remember him. ?)
Burns his finger whilst lighting his shisha pipe,
Jumps up, bangs his knee on table and everything comes tumbling down onto his toe.
Jack Wilshere is far behind in the pecking order,the likes of Xhaka,Cazorla,Ramsey,El Neny,Coquelin are all ahead of him and deservedly so,he needs to go get game time at Bournemouth where he’ll play about 30 league games to become a better player who can fight for a midfield position at Arsenal
Well, more Questions would have to be asked about Arsenal’s training method’s, that’s if Jack manages to play 20+:games for Bournemouth.
About Arsenal “methods” you should read Xhaka interview. EPL is not for everyone.
A fit and injury free Wilshere is good enough for any team,
for Wilshere to be World Class player (which he has it in to be) he needs a whole season injury free
Elneny is also taller and stronger than Messi.
Yes he will get into the Spanish dream team even, Xavi agrees with me on that lol. If you earned 80k a week and still 22 clubs are interested in you, there has to be something interesting about you other than just hype. Playing at the highest levels requires rolling up your sleeves, cutting out the hype of ‘potential’ and be ready to develop a consistency and character that not only gets you the top but helps you stay there for good to, I’d like to believe that’s the rationale behind the loan move. I choose to see it as parents sending their undoubtedly talented kid to stay with a relative to cut out distractions and complacency that comes with his farmiliar home environment and get some focus.
The truth is that even when Jack has had a run of games in recent years this has often been during one of the team’s too frequent bad spells and he has usually been rusty, playing quite well but with disappointing outcomes.
It’s too early yet to say that Xhaka Mustaffi and Perez have moved us forward, but we are optimistic!
Jack has shown promise of being genuinely world-class. But with his injuries, you wonder now if it’ll ever be more than promise. Maybe he’ll be one of those players who suddenly seems to get stronger and more injury free in the later part of their career, like RVP.
Ramsay was fantastic for Wales in the Euros. Yes he has never repeated that 13/14 goalscoring season with AFC and possibly won’t get the chance again, because the team has some big new players in front of him, but he can still energise our performances and he definitely has a part to play.
You make me laugh with your thinking we can win the PL. 🙂 The cycle continues, see you in March…
Ramsey is actually a decent Player…Wales missed his presence in that last game during the Euros
Agree
Ramsay – more than decent (will grab 10+ goals this season)
Wilshere – more than decent (work hard, stay fit, come back soon)
Gnabry, Campbell, Chambers – not good enough (thanks boys, good luck)
I think the article basically sums up reason for loan and i totally agree with everything said. I can actual understand why Ox and Walcott are still there, they have made more contribution to arsenal than Wilshere (not really much) and they also play positions which do not have much competition.
I wish Wilshere good health and hopes he gains back his mojo, but i fear one season will not be enough and arsenal can not wait anymore. Ox and Walcott must take stock of the situation, because i feel they are next on the agenda
Well said Uche Edochie, the main reason for the hype surrounding Wilshere’s loan move to Bournmouth, and you’ve already mentioned it when you said “Keown” is the media. I would expect Martin Keown to be protective of any Arsenal player as he is Arsenal through and through, he may criticise the club and or managers actions at times and rightly so as do we all. Jack Wilshere has had ample time to progress and improve, at least he would have had he listened and learned when he was younger he may not have had the injuries that have held him back. Now of course that is in the past and Jack’s future depends on how he does during this loan spell. If he grows up and starts behaving like a model professional instead of a kid that wants to party all the time then he might just be able to save his career at Arsenal.
IMO…..Wilshere was a a `boy legend` when the fans needed one, he is gone now and it is very unlikely he will don the red a white ever again. He will however get the chance to play against his old club and I really wish him well. The other wish I have for him is `he finds self discipline` and remembers he is a public figure.