Speaking on a recent episode of the Football Writers Podcast, Sarah Shephard discussed the future of Jack Wilshere following his release from West Ham United.
Making his Arsenal debut as a 16-year-old back in 2008, Wilshere went on to feature 198 times for the club, scoring 14 goals and providing 30 assists along the way.
However, the £4.32 million-rated 28-year-old suffered a great number of injuries during his time at Arsenal, which saw him feature in just 125 Premier League fixtures for the club over nine seasons.
In the summer of 2018, the north London side decided not to renew the midfielder’s contract, which allowed him to join the side he supported as a child, West Ham, on a free transfer.
However, injuries continued to plague the England international in east London, with Wilshere making just 19 appearances for the club before they decided to release the 28-year-old from his contract nine months prior to its expiry.
This was one subject of conversation on a recent episode of the Football Writers Podcast, in which Shephard touches on Wilshere’s time at West Ham, as well what she believes the future could hold for the midfielder.
She said: “I find it incredibly sad. Having watched him as an Arsenal fan, as a kid coming through the academy and speaking to people who wax lyrical about the amount of talent that he had as a young player, you just wonder: how has it come to this position?
“I know there were rumours earlier this year about going to the US, to MLS – that wouldn’t surprise me. I think he would do a great job for a Championship club. I think it depends where he wants to go.
“It wouldn’t surprise me to see him end up at a Championship club, for sure. He says he’s been fit for the last eight months, so if a club is worried about his consistency, then he obviously thinks that he’s in a good place to play [consistently] and he just was not given the opportunity to do that at West Ham.
“When any club looks at his record and how many games he plays each season, it’s possibly quite a difficult sell, but I think if a club takes him on a pay-as-you-play type of basis, then there’s really nothing to lose for them.”
Do you think Jack Wilshere still has the ability to play in the Premier League?
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TIF Thoughts…
From Shephard’s comments, it is clear that the journalist is of the belief that Wilshere still has much to offer as a footballer, even if he has to drop down a division to get regular playing time.
However, with the 28-year-old’s injury record, it would seem unlikely that a club will offer him a contract similar to the £100,000 per week deal he was on at West Ham, and, if Wilshere really is desperate to stay towards the top end of English football, he may well have to accept, in our opinion, an appearance-based salary, as Shephard puts forward, in order to do so.