Jack Wilshere has revealed Arsene Wenger’s friendly response after he was caught smoking in 2013.
The youngster at the time was caught lighting up a cigarette in front of a night club and the picture went viral.
The Englishman received a lot of stick for his actions with some fans baffled that he smoked when he was an elite sportsman.
Arsene Wenger was also critical of him outside, but he has now revealed that in house, the Frenchman’s response to the incident was more friendly and it left him a little shocked.
He was speaking to Sky Sports recently and he recalled the incident very well, remembering that he was very worried about how Wenger would react before the Frenchman eased his worries with a response.
‘I look back now and realise I made mistakes,’ Wilshere said to Sky’s Super 6 podcast.
‘At the time, I thought they (the media) were picking on me.
‘I had support around me, from the manager. Arsene was brilliant like that. I remember the first time I got caught with cigarette and the media put it in the paper and that didn’t really bother me, because I was confident I was doing well enough in football.
‘The one thing that was in my head was “oh my god, the boss in going to kill me”. I remember going in the next day, going up to the training pitch and the boss was there.
‘He was like “don’t worry, when I have a drink I like a cigarette as well!”. I was like “oh my god, thank god for that!”. I learnt things and it’s easier now to get caught out because of social media.’
Wilshere spent five more years at Arsenal. He and Wenger left the club in the same year, 2018, and he has been struggling since then.
