I left West Ham because I did not want to rot, says Wilshere
Trained in a park before joining Bournemouth and is determined to show he still has plenty to offer the game
From a Premier League training ground to working out in a public park – October was a strange month for Jack Wilshere. “I wasn’t going to play and I didn’t want to sit there on big wages at a club like West Ham and just rot, really,” the midfielder says, as he explains the decision he and the Premier League reached to settle up the final year of his contract.
Wilshere did not get his money in full – but got close to it – as, at the age of 28 (he turned 29 on Jan 1), he was left without a club and with serious questions as to whether he could still cut it.
West Ham certainly did not think he could. “It doesn’t take a footballing genius to know it didn’t work out, and I’m fine with that,” Wilshere says, having played just 210 minutes of last season’s league campaign, plus 148 minutes in the League Cup, after only 389 minutes in 2018-19 as injuries continued to take their toll.
Except Wilshere argued that he had been fit for months, with manager David Moyes deciding he no longer needed him. “If I felt like I had finished, and done everything I wanted to do in the game, I would have called it a day when I left West Ham,” Wilshere says. “I’ve been lucky enough to earn good money throughout my career, but being out of the game for three months made me realise I want to play this game for as long as possible.”
Those three months, until he called Jason Tindall, the Bournemouth manager, on Christmas Eve, were “tough”. “At the start, it was kind of like a relief,” Wilshere admits. “I just wanted to get out and play some games. If I am honest, I didn’t think it would take as long as it did. When you are training in the park and going through lockdown, sometimes your mind can play games with you. It was tough, but now I am here and I think that inspires me even more and makes me even hungrier. It’s down to me to keep myself here.”
Having trained with Bournemouth, where he went on loan from Arsenal in 2016, Wilshere has this week signed a contract with the Championship club until the end of the season, and came on in the 1-0 defeat by Derby County on Tuesday to make his debut. Although he insists he has “no bad feelings at all” towards West Ham, he believes that, in terms of style of play, Bournemouth may suit him better.
“I said it before and got a bit of stick for it,” he says. “But it was not me trying to be big time or think I’m too good for certain teams. It’s literally my style of play. Similar to when I was at Arsenal, a team that wants to play football.
“I tried to play in a different way and it didn’t quite work out. So that was a big reason why I came here as well, because I know the way the manager wants to play. We will be, whether we like it or not, one of the favourites to get promoted, but I like to play in those circumstances.”
There is sympathy for a former team-mate who also had to do a deal over the remainder of his contract after being frozen out. “I am sure it was as difficult for him as it was for me,” Wilshere says of Mesut Ozil, who is on the verge of terminating his Arsenal contract before completing a move to Fenerbahce. “It is not nice to be in a position where you are not given that fair opportunity to try to challenge for a place in the team. I am happy he has found happiness and hopefully he can go on to be successful in Turkey.”
After being out of the game, Wilshere is also getting that feeling back. There were other options – MLS in the United States, Asia, other Championship clubs – but Bournemouth is the right fit.
“Sometimes you can take it for granted,” Wilshere says. “But it made me realise how much I actually do love it. I still feel like I’ve got something to give in this game.”