https://www.arsenal.com/news/good-luck-jack In some ways, this is quite sad. So many of us thought he would be a future England and Arsenal captain. He showed so much promise. Unfortunately, his injury problems were his downfall and hindered his progression as a footballer. In other ways, and I recognise this may not be a popular opinion, but I think it's in the best interests of both the club and the player for Jack to depart. He wanted to be a guaranteed starter, which he obviously was not entitled to be given. He's not reliable fitness wise. There were also serious question marks over the contribution he was making to our midfield. I wish him all the best in his future (except for if he plays against us), and people will get sentimental. But this is the right move .
Interesting comments on his Instagram... "I felt that I was ultimately left with little choice but to make the decision that I have due to purely footballing reasons. Such was my desire to stay that I had in fact recently agreed to sign a financially reduced contract in order to commit my future to the club. My intention throughout these discussions has always been to remain an Arsenal player. I have been on the books at Arsenal for 17 years and have always felt part of the fabric of the club." The only assumption that can be drawn from this is that he agreed a cut in his wages to stay, providing he was guaranteed game time. Emery must have told him that he still won't be guaranteed game time even if he does take a lesser financial package.
If you would have told me 5 years ago that Jack Wilshere would be leaving Arsenal on a free transfer today, I would have called you insane. However...I think Wilshere is...the perfect word for it would be... replaceable. He had some good performances last season, but just didnt really look like a player to take us forward. It's a shame because when he burst on the scene at 17 I thought he was going to be world class. Its sad from the standpoint that he was at Arsenal for 17 years, but I dont think our squad loses much by him leaving. In fact, I am quite excited to see if we replace him with someone better value for the money.
Wilshere's departure has confirmed our failure to bring through players from our youth system. He was the very last and arguably most successful of the bunch. The fact that he's left on a free only confirms how our youth policy has been a monumental failure. He showed rare glimpses of promise but failed to live up to it ultimately.
I remember back in December 2012 when Wenger was talking up the importance of a 'British Core' at Arsenal. This was just after Wilshere, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Ramsey and Oxlade-Chamberlain had all signed new deals at the club, whilst Walcott signed a new deal a couple of months later. please log in to view this image Crazy to think that, 5 and a half years later, only one of those players has a realistic future at the club. Jenkinson is still on our books, but it's no secret we've been trying to flog him off for the last 2-3 years now. I would hazard a guess that his wages are proving to be a stumbling block... Gibbs never truly kicked on and was clearly unhappy to be second-fiddle to Monreal. Speaks volume that he's plying his trade at Championship club West Brom. Oxlade-Chamberlain had all the raw attributes to be a huge success at Arsenal, but again, didn't live up to the expectations albeit for various reasons. Got sold to Liverpool and has improved as a footballer, but still isn't the player people expected him to be when he first came onto the scene. Also, no-one seems to be able to define his best position. Walcott was far too hit-and-miss and, despite him proving to be a useful utility player, he was far too expensive to keep at the club. Continuing to pay in excess of £100k p/w for a squad player with minimal resale value would have been suicidal. Wilshere has obviously confirmed he won't stay on. That leaves Ramsey left, and whilst he is still at the club, even his future isn't clear at the moment with just the one year left on his current contract. The youth project has not just been a failure; it has been a colossal failure. It's just a shame that so much time and energy was invested into these players, only for it to fall completely flat on its head.
Sentimental part of me says it's a sad moment to see him go. But every other reason says this is a good move for Arsenal and for Wilshere. We've carried players that haven't been performing for far too long, so I'm pleased to see a bit more of a ruthless approach to this. Also it frees up a place for us to get somebody in who will actually improve the midfield
I called it. Wilshit was overrated and just an average run of the mill pl player (if that). You boys will be stronger with this move if you go out and get a replacement
You talk of your youth system being "a failure." Didn´t you guys get to the FA Youth Cup Final? Isn´t Iwobi a product of the system, and didn´t a plethora of players who participated in your League, Europa League and FA Cup campaigns in the last season, play a considerable number of matches? It can´t be all that bad, but it could be a lot better, of that I am sure.
Look at our (Chelsea's) youth policy and count yourself lucky that all those players even got to get play time with the senior squad! This is exactly what I feared when Wenger left. That someone with a clue would come along and sort your squad out, this is a good start. I hope it doesn't continue
P.S Now watch as we ****ing sign Wilshere and add to our, mediocre, crocked, English midfielder contingent, along with Barkley and Drinkwater. How long do you think JW will last at his next club before he picks up an injury?
Real shame IMO. I think Jack Wilshere is the perfect example of why we shouldn't listen to the British press. He was critisced from day one. There we're huge expectations on Jack and with injury problems he didn't develop into the World Class player he should have done. That was never his fault and expectations were always sky high even when he wasn't really fit. If his performances weren't great he would get overly critisced. Many FAR lesser players are praised - British players like Shelvey, Delph, Lallana even Henderson.. these guys received nothing but positivity but Wilshere was always under attack. (to some extent so was Walcott) I still think he was one of our better performers last Season and this is another Arsenal FC **** up. Much like Joel Campbell/ Lucas Perez his performances warranted a better situation. Perhaps he was asking for too much money who knows? (I doubt it - he's an Arsenal fan through and through) Meanwhile Elneny played like **** all Season and gets rewarded with a new deal. Mustafi has been nothing but a liability, Xhaka has been inconsistent at best - No other teams in the top six would take any of those... but I wont be surprised if a big teams comes in and gives Wilshere a contract.
Can you tell Wilshere we aren't a big team? We aint even in the Champions League....... We are small Jack....best stay away, you can do better......
You guys could do with a quality holding player to sit next to Kante. What about that guy Matic?.. he looks perfect.
I don't agree with this. If anything, Wilshere was the media-darling. He was always romanticised as being the young, cheeky English lad that would be a leader for both club and country for years to come. For years, pundits and journalists claimed he would flourish into a world-class midfielder that we could not do without. And to be fair, for a long time, a lot of us felt like that as well. His talent as a kid was unquestionable. It was only when we were buying other midfielders, where he was struggling to get game time even when fit and when we loaned him out to Bournemouth, where people started to think that his career wouldn't be the fairytale we all hoped. A massive issue was the injuries he kept suffering. Maybe part of this was because he played too many matches when he came onto the scene, and when he got injured, he was rushed back - but, as has been alluded to above, his football intelligence never seemed to get better. I'd even say part of the reason why he kept getting injured was a result of his playing style. He never adapted his game. Can you seriously sit there and tell me that between the ages of 18 and 26, he has improved as a player? In fact, similar to Chamberlain, Wilshere's best position was disputed for a long time. Was he a creative midfielder? Was he a deep-lying playmaker? Was he box-to-box? Was he meant to be a more defensive-minded player? Whichever way you look at it, his statistics underlined just how little he genuinely contributed to our team. We had a discussion about it on this thread a couple of months back: https://www.not606.com/threads/wilshere.359809/#post-11635414 Regarding Elneny, he recently signed a new contract, but this was before Emery arrived. Had Emery been around/Elneny not been offered the extension, I think Emery would have tried to sell him. In any case, the difference with Elneny is that he accepts he won't be a guaranteed first choice player and will work to fight for his place in the team. Wilshere wanted assurances to be a starter. Emery couldn't give him that. Wilshere didn't want to be a benchwarmer (understandably), so the only thing to do was for him to leave. Besides, I don't see a problem with keeping Elneny as a squad player. We need hard-workers like him who can recycle possession and press from the front when we're seeing games out/facing lowly opposition.
