Jack Wilshere and Arsenal still have plenty more to offer each other. Here’s why the midfielder should stay at the Emirates.
With just over a month left in the season, Premier League teams are pushing forward with their plans for the summer transfer window, and also considering the futures of their own players.
At Arsenal, manager Arsene Wenger’s contract situation has dominated the headlines, but securing one of the club academy’s brightest graduates to a new deal should be a priority for whoever’s left in charge.
On Tuesday, the Daily Mail reported Arsenal and on-loan midfielder Jack Wilshere are imminently set to discuss an extension to his contract, which expires at the end of next season. Although Wilshere is yet to score since joining Bournemouth for this season, ensuring he returns to and remains at Arsenal would be the right move for the Gunners, and Wilshere himself.
After breaking into Arsenal’s team as a 16-year-old, few have doubted Wilshere’s natural ability, but his ability to stay healthy is another story. Fortunately for all parties, the Englishman has featured in 25 of Bournemouth’s 31 league games thus far, dwarfing the 873 minutes he managed in the previous two campaigns.
In enjoying a spell of sustained fitness, Wilshere has created 32 chances for the Cherries, per Squawka.com, leading all his teammates by a comfortable margin. That mark would rank third-best on the Gunners, trailing only Alexis Sanchez (70) and Mesut Ozil (67).
Wilshere’s ability to dribble past opponents has also been on display at Bournemouth, as his 55 completed take-ons place fourth among all Premier League central midfielders, per Squawka.com.
Combined, Wilshere’s knack for pulling the strings and skipping past defenders while under pressure is exactly what Arsenal have missed with Santi Cazorla sidelined for the better part of the past two seasons. Over that span, Arsenal have won just 47.7 percent of their contests with Cazorla out of the action, which pales in comparison to their 65.2 percent win rate with him on the pitch.
Those results came after Cazorla switched full-time from an attacking-midfield position to a deeper role in Arsenal’s 4-2-3-1 formation. That’s where Wilshere projects long-term, particularly with the 32-year-old Cazorla unable to shake a lingering Achilles issue.
While Aaron Ramsey also fits best at this position, Wilshere’s traits more closely resemble those of Cazorla, and Ramsey has endured his own issues getting on the pitch of late, evidenced by his mere 651 minutes in the Premier League this season. In addition to Wilshere being a better fit than Ramsey, Arsenal could also probably get more in the transfer market for the Welshman than for Wilshere.
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Overall, Arsenal need someone like Wilshere, and Wilshere needs Arsenal. Now 25 years old, being empowered with a pivotal role in the Gunners’ setup would surely propel Wilshere back into the English national team, which he hasn’t played for since last summer’s Euros. Furthermore, coming good at the club he joined when he was nine years old is undoubtedly Wilshere’s preferred scenario — something Arsenal and he should pursue in the form of a contract extension.