More woe for Wilshire

The season before last, Arsenal were drawn in the Champions League knockout stages against the formidable force that is FC Barcelona. 

The Catalan giants travelled to the Emirates Stadium as hot favourites and despite going on to win the tie comfortably, they were beaten by Arsenal 2-1 in the first leg.

It was a great night for the Gunners and it was special for one individual in particular.
It was the first time that Jack Wilshire had performed against the very best and at the end of the match both Xavi and Iniesta gave the youngster their shirts; there is no bigger complement than that in modern day football.

Wilshere had a good season at Arsenal that year and it was without doubt his breakthrough as a first team player.

He also cemented his place in the England side and gave the international outfit a more dynamic and modern feel.

The loss of Cesc Fabregas meant that at the start of last season there was more pressure on the young shoulders of Wilshire, but no one was in doubt that he could handle it due to his rare talent.

He travelled with Arsenal on their tour of the far-east and performed well until an injury to his ankle halted his progress and it was confirmed that he would need surgery to repair it.

Here we are a year later and it has been announced that Jack Wilshire has had another setback and won’t return until October at the earliest.

He has suffered for over a year now with re-occurring ankle and knee problems and it is a huge worry to see one of England’s brightest prospects being hit so early on in his career.

Comparisons to Michael Owen can be made due to them both peaking very early in their careers but also both suffering serious injury in their youth.

Hopefully Wilshire’s injury won’t have the same effect as Owen’s and the Arsenal man will bounce back and hit top form once again for both club and country.

In the meantime, Arsenal are preparing for another season in typical style. Robin van Persie seems as if he will be the big name to depart the club and they also have to contend with a barrage of injuries that include Jack Wilshire, Tomas Rosicky, Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud and Bacary Sagna.

Surely Wenger will now delve into the transfer market to cover these losses and although a deal for Santi Cazorla is nearing a conclusion, they also need a creative midfielder to fill the void left by Wilshire.

There were rumours that Nuri Şahin would join on loan from Real Madrid and this would certainly make sense due to his similar style of play.

This year will be crucial for Wilshire as he battles to regain his fitness and cement his place in the starting eleven for Arsenal.

He should take heart from teammate Tomas Rosicky who also had a massive lay off due to injury, but has now announced himself in the Arsenal dressing room once more and is currently playing the best football of his life.

The Englishman has age on his side and will hopefully make a full recovery and continue his journey to be the best England midfielder in a generation.

Arsenal will be hoping that their prized asset will return as the same player he was before injury struck him down.

Alex Smith, football correspondent