After his extended run of fine performances in the centre of the Arsenal midfield this season many in the Football world such as Jamie Redknapp have hailed young Jack Wilshere as ‘England’s answer to Xavi.’ Current England manager; Fabio Capello stated that ‘He will be England captain one day, he is a real leader. I saw how he spoke with the referee [against Denmark] and how he spoke to the other players. It is difficult to find someone so young with such a big personality.’ The Italian also claimed ‘He [Wilshere] is the best young midfielder I have seen for his age.’
However, I personally feel that his performances, especially in the Premier League have been somewhat over-exaggerated by both the media and the ever-praising Arsene Wenger. Arsenal usually employ a five man midfield of Song, Fabregas, Nasri, Wilshere and then either Walcott or Arshavin on one of the flanks. With Song protecting the back four, rarely venturing forward and Nasri plus Walcott or Arshavin working the channels and linking up with Van Persie, it leaves Fabregas and Wilshere in the centre of the park.
As we know, Fabregas runs the length of the pitch for ninety minutes, tracking back and playing an instrumental role in nearly all of Arsenal’s attacking moves. Although he is supremely confident on the ball and not shy of taking on a shot at goal, Wilshere is rarely the main driving force behind an attack. Instead he seems to be more adept at ‘recycling’ the ball, making neat one-two passes in the middle of the pitch.
Whilst this may be very effective in a midfield packed full of technical players such as Nasri and Fabregas, I doubt very much he will be able to play a similar role in England’s midfield where the ever-present Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard command a starting role. Some people say he can fill replace Gareth Barry as the holding midfielder, however, should this be the case, both the fans and the media will undoubtedly ask why ‘England’s answer to Xavi,’ and future captain is restricted to protecting the back four. It is also no sure thing that Wilshere will earn a regular spot in the starting XI due to the emergence of Andy Carroll, who in previous fixtures, looked as if he linked up well with Rooney.
Wilshere also possesses a fiery temper and has often made some rash challenges, the most notable of which earned him a straight red card against Birmingham in October last year and the young Stevenage born lad was also arrested last August over an incident outside a London nightclub. Although he is young and may be easily led astray, when you compare him to foreign ‘prodigies’ such as Messi, Iniesta or Xavi, all of which, possess extremely calm temperaments it is evident that Wilshere’s fierce passion and rash decision making, coupled with his feisty demeanor may have repercussions, especially in the European and International game where a straight red card can be picked up for as little as a slight push in the chest.
However, the most fundamental reason why, in my mind Wilshere is still not the English equivalent of Xavi or Iniesta is that he simply does not score enough goals. He managed to find the net only once in the premier league last year, despite making 35 appearances, mainly as a creative midfielder. When this statistic is compared to Iniesta, who managed 8 goals from 34 appearances, it is clear who provides the bigger threat to opposition goalkeepers.
Although the young Arsenal midfielder is probably the best English talent to emerge in recent years, with the possible exception of Andy Carroll, should he live up to his £35 million price tag, I still believe that Wilshere still has a long way to go before he is comparable to the likes of Xavi and Iniesta. There is no doubt that the potential is there, however if he wishes to live up to his appraisals, his next goal must surely be to hold down a regular spot on the England teamsheet. A task easier said than done, when you have Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard as your competitors.
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Think you are the only person i have heard make the comparison. So well done you.
Shocking article. The lad is 19 ffs. Of course he won’t score as the same amount as Xavi or Iniesta yet, but he has said that scoring more goals is his aim next season.
I suggest you watch the videos highlighting his performance in the first leg against Barca. He outshone both Xavi and Iniesta in that game.
Honestly, this article is quite appalling.
You don’t really know what you are talking about. Wilshere has scored loads of goals in the youth teams, he had played in more advanced roles a few years ago, and he will find his feet and start scoring. Also, he only plays a deeper role, because we have Cesc higher.
Oh and Xavi didn’t score too many goals, so you pick Iniesta’s stats – clever trick.
xavi and iniesta were no where near as good as wilshere when they were 19, they were nobody’s, and not many players score a lot of goals when they are young, cristiano ronaldo only used to get about 7 goals a season when he first went to man utd and now he gets 40+, fabregas used to get about 2 or 3 per season but now he gets at least about 13 or 14, same with gerrard, wilshere will score plenty of goals. personally i feel wilshere is overshadowed by cesc at arsenal and once he leaves wilshere will step up even more so thats why he isnt leading our attacks. then with england i personally feel wilshere was better that lampard and gerrard last season and so i joey barton imo, those two especially lampard are losing their touch.
if you watch wilshere vs barcelona you will see how good he is, fabregas wasnt this good when he was 19
you must be a very dumb person just think back to when u were wilsheres age if u could make the arsenal team urself and now that ur older i cant remember seeing ur name in the arsenal reserve team talkmore of the first team take my word his going to be better than xavi by next season let fabergas go
this is a joke, admittedly I’m an arsenal fan so I’m biased but you’ve missed a few key points. Firstly, wilshere has played over 50 games for arsenal this season whilst fabregas has played something between 20 and 30, so wilshere has played nearly half his games without fabregas, doing far more than ‘recycling’ the ball. Secondly, the only reason wilshere plays anything like that role is because he is restricted by the 4231 arsenal have used this season and even in fabregas’ absence diaby is normally given the more advanced role as wilshere is more disciplined in staying back. Thirdly, saying that wilshere can’t be like xavi and iniesta because he doesn’t score enough is rubbish,neither of the two spaniards are renowned for their goalscoring and it’s a lot easier to score when playing for the best team in the world in a 2-team league than for a team that’s had such a drastic drop in form in the most competitive league in the world. Finally, although you’re absolutely right about his lack of discipline in the challenge, remember he is still young and hot-headed and that that sort of fight and passion is actively encouraged in the English game and he would be slated for being too meek, like most of the arsenal team are. I’m not saying this article is completely wrong as he’s not there yet and who knows what could happen, he could suffer and injury and lose all his promise or could simply be converted into the pirlo role, rendering all comparisons to the barca lads pointless. I’m desperately trying not to overhype him and failing and I wish there was less pressure on him, but your arguments against just seem inaccurate
forgot to say as well, I believe wilshere has already cemented his place in the England team, above lampard anyway, given capello’s comments and his substitutions in the recent qualifier against the swiss
song rarely ventures forward, surely the biggest criticism of his play this season is that he ventured forward too often with little communication with wilshere to stay behind and cover in his absence.
as for fabregas, a legend for arsenal, no question – but to say he has tirelessly run trirelessly etc and somehow made wilsheres role easier because of this? his hamstring injuries have plagued him this season and in many of the games where this clearly held him back, wilshere’s biggest attribute was his ability to step up the plate.
i wont go through the entire article, as i actually agree that he may not be englands answer to xavi, nor is he as immense a player as some people tout (yet) but i also think his role at emirates will shift once fabregas leaves, and wenger is one to mould players into new positions to suit his squad…so as he develops we may see a shift (lauren, toure, henry, even shifting cesc more forward in recent years, for example)
the fiery temperament you mention is an issue, but as you say he is young- but your examples of other prodigies all hail from the one team, so can be seen as the measure of all prodigous youngsters. rooney, for example. ronaldo isnt shy about whining and shouting on the pitch, and paul scholes (perhaps more relevantly) isnt exactly the dalai lama. i see this as irrelevant and misses the point regarding the xavi comparisons.
just some thoughts, nice article though. and overall sentiment i concur with at this stage of his career.
oh, is andy carrol not a forward?
‘oh, is andy carrol not a forward?’ i think he was implying that if carroll plays up top with rooney, there will only be 4 midfield players, which means wilshere has to play ahead of gerrard/lampard
FFS. He is a 19 YEAR old. Iniesta and Xavi where not even first team players at that age. To compare the goals scored by a 19 year old to Iniesta is a joke. Modric hardly scores any goals but he is rated as one of the best. Also Cesc does not cover the whole midfield. He has become a number 10 type player in the new system. We do that because we only have Van Persie as a forward. Wilshere is young so to expect him to control an entire midfield is asking way too much.
Im sorry but I can’t take this article seriously, where were xavi and Iniesta at 19? Iniesta plays for the best side in the world and only gets 8 goals yet Wilshere who plays more of the ‘xavi role’ gets one, you cant compare the two.
As for Wilshere starting ahead of Lamppard and Gerrard who was it who got subbed on Saturday, Lampard thats who. I can only assume your a spurs or chelsea fan and are jealous Wilshere. As for not being a driving force who won the pen on saturday for england?
Wilshere was played as a defensive midfielder all season alongside Alex Song. Wenger put him there to work on the defensive side of his game before moving him to his natural playmaker position in the future which Cesc currently occupies. Wenger himself said this on numerous occasions. That is why he scored few goals. You cannot compare him to Iniesta because he’s not that kind of player, and he’s only 19 years old. You would know this if you watched Arsenal matches.
‘Wenger put him there to work on the defensive side of his game before moving him’ – what do you think training is for. idiot.
you really believe that a side such as arsenal use matchtime to help train their players on their weaker attributes….
Have u actually watched him play. He runs for 90mins, always wants the ball and can make a 60yard ball as well. As Ben says he IS 19, Iniesta is 27 so get real with the comparison. No one had heard of him at 19 so spare me the effort to rubbish ur article. Nice try but he is a class player for Arsenal and England already. Best player produced by Arsenal since Cashley.
Wow, clearly written by somebody that does not watch Arsenal play.
First of all, Wilshire plays right now in what can only be described as the “Xabi Alonso” position.
There is a reason that he is the fans player of the season with 40% of the vote in a year where two fan favourites, van Persie and Nasri were very good.
After october there was not a single game where Jack Wilshire’s performance was anything below a 7 out of 10 even when the rest of the team was crumbling to pieces. He was often the best player on the pitch, even when Arsenal lost.
Xavi doesn’t play where Gerrard and Lampard play and he rarely scores because his role is distribution or “recycling” of the ball as you say.
Xavi also didn’t become international superstar Xavi until he was 25+, Wilshire is 19 and he’s better than Xavi was at 19, that’s for sure and arguably making more impact than Fabregas did at 19 and remember he was playing in a team which still had superstars like Henry in it.
What he has over Xavi is an great work rate and the grit and determination that is often associated with English players and a lot of Arsenal attacks this year started with a clever pass from Wilshire.
I think you’re confusing the difference between Xavi and Wilshire with the difference between Barcelona and Arsenal.
Iniesta is almost 8 years older than Wilshire, give the boy a chance to prove himself, or are you just a bitter Spurs fan!
How can you compare Wilshire’s goal tally in his break-through season to that of Iniesta or Xavi in 10/11? Compare their first seasons as regulars in the team and Jack comes out far more favourably. Even Cesc took a long time to add the goals to his repertoire and IF Jack can emulate that development that he COULD do the same. Or he could have his leg broken and struggle to even maintain his current level of performance or just do a Bentley and fail to turn promise into results! But he has the potential which is all that Cappello et al have said.
How wrong you are. Am not a gunna, not even from England but I can see where you are wrong. Fabregas had 3 goals only in the league, yet he is arsenal’s creative force and answer to Xavi. Wilshere played the 2nd holding mf in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Xavi and Iniesta play in a wingless 4-3-3. That makes Wilshere less offensive compared to the other two hence the goal ratio, but that doesn’t mean we are blind to see the ‘Xavi and Iniesta’ in him. Btw, did u know xavi when he was 19? Am in spain, and I dint!
“However, the most fundamental reason why, in my mind Wilshere is still not the English equivalent of Xavi or Iniesta is that he simply does not score enough goals.” This single line tells me that you know absolute bull crap about football.
How many goals do you think Xavi has scored this year? He’s scored a grand total of 5 goals from 64 appearances this year and he has 14 assists to his name.
Iniesta, on the other hand, is more effective in front of the goal compared Xavi. He’s scored 12 goals and has 12 assists in 64 appearances.
Wilshere has 2 goals and 9 assists in 53 appearances.
Xavi is considered one of the best footballers in the world not because of his abilities in front of a goal, but because his ability to “recycle” as you put it.
Jack Wilshere is the most exciting talent England has had in the last couple of years. He hasn’t been a threat in front of the goal as he plays deeper than Lampard and Gerrard does. Moreover, Lampard hasn’t been very impressive in his previous England fixtures.
Mr richard, where was xavi when he was 20 years old?xavi is 31 years old and if wilshere continues to develop at this rate,he’ll probably get there by 26.So he is not the answer to xavi ‘yet’ but is surely on the way there.I watched him all through the season and he was definitely better than lampard and barry put together for sure.Some players like walcott can be overrated by the press but trust me wilshere is the real deal.besides lampard and gerrard are in their 30’s and on their way out of the national team so he would get to play a more attacking role in future and definately goals would come [see cesc fabregas].Paul Scholes didn’t know how to tackle yet even Xavi says he was the best in europe.So like i said, he is on the way to becoming a great player if he remains focused.
bore off you mug shit post
Why are you writing about Arsenal? You compare Jack to 2 of the best current players in the world as though he has been playing senior football for as long as they have. As Ben says Wenger purposefully played him deeper this season so he could work on the weaker part of his game which is tracking back like Cesc does.
Some advice for you, GO TO A GAME! Then maybe you can have an opinion.
This has to be the biggest load of crap ive ever read.
Seriously how you can sit there and say that wilshire isnt a xabi or an iniesta, THE MAN IS 19 YEARS OLD, he is only gonna get better, maybe he wont play at there level but lets be honest fabregas isnt even at there level, wilshire is a class act and the fact that he doesnt score many goals really doesnt matter, he makes things happen, he opens up the game by beating players and driving through the middle, twats like yourself just look at stats to judge players, tell me how many goals did van der sar score last season.?.?.?.?. Must mean hes shit to