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REPORTS JACK WILSHERE has told Arsenal he wants his contract situation sorted before he steps on the plane to Russia this summer.
But if the club refuse to make him a deal he feels is acceptable, he will not be distracted from performing his very best for England in the massive shop window provided by this summer’s World Cup.
His contract at the Emirates runs out on June 30, so he could be a free agent during England’s knockout campaign.
And with former World Cup winner Gennaro Gattuso recently describing him as “the personality of English football but with the qualities of a Spanish player”, scouts from all over the world will be watching him.
Wilshere, though, would to get things sorted.
“Ideally from my point of view and the club’s point of view, they will probably want it sorted,” he said. “I want it sorted as soon as possible.
“I want to go to the World Cup and enjoy it and we have three months till then and a lot can happen.
“But if it’s not, I don’t think it would be a distraction because this is probably one of the most important years of my career.
“If I had let the contract and the future go to my head, and I had worried about that, I would have probably ended up leaving in January.
“I just wanted to focus on getting fit, getting back in the Arsenal team and then hopefully getting back with England.”
Despite renewing Mesut Ozil’s contract for a mammoth £350,000 a week, Arsenal are adamant that has not paved the way for a series of copycat demands and appear to be making something of an example of Wilshere by offering him around £100,000 a week – slightly less than his current deal.
Showing that sort of robustness to a player who has served the club loyally, recently as captain, since he was an eight-year-old is a clear indication to the dressing room that the board have not suddenly become pushovers. Furthermore, it prefer ON THE BALL: Wilshere is back in Arsenal’s first team and for England GARETH SOUTHGATE is facing a dilemma over who will be his World Cup captain with just 88 days to go before the start of the tournament.
First-choice Harry Kane is out injured for the warm-up friendlies against Holland and Italy and will not be back until the end of April.
Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson is likely to get the honour in Amsterdam but Tottenham’s Eric Dier is another contender.
According to sources close to Southgate, the England coach has not yet made up his mind on who will lead England in Russia.
TONY BANKS