Journalist Charles Watts has predicted that former Arsenal player Jack Wilshere could aim to become the club’s next academy coach.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that the Gunners’ academy was set for a major shake-up. The club’s U23 head coach Kevin Betsy had agreed to move to Crawley Town, and his assistant there would be Dan Micciche, Arsenal’s U18 boss.
With that in mind, the club will now have to go out and hire a couple of new youth coaches in the near future, and Watts has claimed that Wilshere could be keen on the job – even though he didn’t personally think the move was likely.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, he said: “I did an interview with Jack, went up and met him at the Emirates about a week ago, a week and a half ago, and he spoke at length about how he might even retire now if a decent coaching opportunity came up.
“Obviously spent the beginning part of this year and the end of last year coaching at Arsenal, working with the young players, so maybe that’s something… I mean, he hasn’t passed all his coaching badges or anything like that so we’ll have to wait and see if that’s something that potentially Arsenal will look at.
“I think it’s probably doubtful, and given the quality of fully qualified coaches there are around, you would think that Arsenal would want Jack to be fully qualified before they gave him a role as important as that. So I think it’s probably doubtful.
“But hey, I’m sure if the opportunity arises, he’d love to certainly throw his hat in the ring, and I know there’ll be widespread interest from elsewhere in the footballing world for this role.”
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Wilshere played for Arsenal having come through the club’s youth setup, so it would make plenty of sense for him to have an interest in this particular role.
Watts also mentions his interview with the 30-year-old. A few weeks ago, the midfielder did indeed explain to Goal that he would consider retiring if the right opportunity was to present itself.
He said: “If a coaching opportunity came up, I wouldn’t be sad to say ‘right that’s it, I’m done with playing’.
“I’ve got a big desire to coach and become successful at that. You look at the managers who have been successful in the last five or six years, they started young. So I just think ‘why not?’”
With that in mind, you can see why Watts has tipped the former England international to have an interest in the role. Even so, as the journalist explains, without all his coaching badges, a move so soon seems unlikely at this stage.