Long way back for Wilshere
JACK WILSHERE has been told he has to prove he can get back to his best before Arsenal will even consider the offer of a new contract.
The midfielder has returned to the club after spending last season on loan at Bournemouth, but his contract runs out next summer and, at 25, a series of injuries has cast him way down the Emirates pecking order.
Crystal Palace tried to take him on loan last summer when Wilshere went to Bournemouth and have renewed their interest since Frank de Boer took over.
Arsene Wenger hinted that the player might be allowed to leave again in a bid to secure a new deal. “If he gets back to his best and wants to stay, we have to sit down later in the season,” the Arsenal manager said.
“I don’t rule that out. But today in the football world you need to be a consistent presence and what is at stake for Jack is not his quality, his talent or his determination, it is whether he is a consistent presence at the top.
“I’m open to a loan move. I’m open to what is the best for him. He is at the stage of his career where he needs to play and I can’t guarantee him that today.”
Wilshere’s frustration spilled over when he was sent off playing for the Arsenal under-23s against Manchester City and later brawled in the tunnel, earning a threematch ban that was yesterday reduced to two games on appeal.
Wenger, though, was forgiving in the circumstances.
“Ideally he should not have responded at all, but when you have gone through what he has, when you get a bad tackle, it was a human reaction,” he said.