Have you ever asked yourself what happened to the football career of Jack Wilshere? How he rose to be the brightest youngster at Arsenal to a rejected player at West Ham United? His former teammate at Arsenal, Cesc Fabregas, could not but weighed in on the career of the 28-year-old English center-midfielder.
Currently, Wilshere who joined the Arsenal youth system from Luton Academy on October 1, 2001, and graduated to become a shining light at the club, is without a club since October 5, 2020.
West Ham United took in the midfielder on July 9, 2018, as a free agent after Arsenal failed to offer him a new contract. In less than two full seasons, West Ham kicked Wilshere out of the club after making one appearance in EFL Cup this season.
One of the issues that heavily affected his almost 10 years of professional career at Arsenal, was the issue of persistent injuries which heavily affected his performance on the field. Immediately he left Arsenal to join West Ham, Jack Wilshere found it almost impossible to hit his peak again.
Before he left Arsenal in 2018, Jack Wilshere scored 14 goals and provided 30 assists in 198 appearances in all competitions. He was so good at a time that he made it into PFA Team of the Year, won PFA Young Player of the year, and also won the Arsenal player of the season award in the 2010-2011 season.
Since then, he didn’t have such a glorious season in his career but continued to show flashes of what he could do on the pitch.
The world started witnessing the decline in Wilshere’s career from 2016 as he had to go on loan to Bournemouth where he played just 27 games and provided 2 assists. His almost two seasons at West Ham only amounted to 19 appearances, one goal and one assist.
In reaction to how Jack Wilshere’s career has turned out, Cesc Fabregas who was Wilshere’s senior teammate at Arsenal noted that the English star had the potential to make it so big at Real Madrid or Barcelona.
“Jack was such a good talent, one of the most talented players I’ve ever played with,” Fabregas told the Daily Mail.
“He was just 16 when he first came to train with us and I was like ‘wow this guy is good, strong, sharp.’ It’s a big shame what has happened to him, I feel sorry because he could have been a proper English legend of the game.
“We always talk about how British players would adapt to teams in Europe – I always believed that Jack was one of the few Brits who could have made it big time at Real Madrid or Barcelona.
“Same with Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale. These guys are so talented, without injuries they could have done much more.”
Jack Wilshere can’t join Tottenham
Meanwhile, even though Wilshere is without a club, he has insisted that he would not join a club like Tottenham Hotspur. He told Super 6 Podcast hosted by Laura Woods and Adebayo Akinfenwa that though he loves the current coach of Spurs, Jose Mourinho, he can’t join the club because of the rivalry that exists between his former club Arsenal and Spurs.
“They wouldn’t have me!… But I don’t think I could do it”, Wilshere said. “It’s not as if Arsenal got rid of me and kicked me out and there is a bad feeling, they offered me a deal and I wanted to try something else. I’m an Arsenal man.”
