Arsene Wenger to offer Jack Wilshere new Arsenal contract, despite broken leg

Jack Wilshere
Wilshere has spent the season on loan at Bournemouth Credit: REUTERS

Arsene Wenger will offer Jack Wilshere a new Arsenal contract even after his latest injury set-back, but has admitted that so many missed games could ultimately prevent him from fulfilling his potential.

Wilshere’s season and loan spell at Bournemouth is over after scans confirmed that he suffered a hairline fracture to his left fibula against Tottenham last Saturday, but no surgery is planned and he will report back to Arsenal next week.

Wenger hopes that Wilshere can now recover in time for a full pre-season schedule that will include games this July in Australia and China.

“This injury is nothing to do with the extension of Jack’s contract,” said Wenger. “We think it’s a very simple fracture that doesn’t need any surgery at all. We need patience. The rehab will certainly be done here because the season will be over.”

Wenger is encouraged by how Wilshere played 29 games this season before his injury but, at the age now of 25, knows that he must build on this to have a chance to fulfil his potential.

In the five previous Premier League seasons, Wilshere made just 66 appearances and he will also want to know where he stands at Arsenal before committing to a new contract.

Wenger has added Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny to his central midfield during the last three transfer windows while Santi Cazorla will stay for at least another year and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been emerging in that position. Francis Coquelin and Aaron Ramsey have also been ahead of Wilshere in Wenger’s thinking.

“Jack is a great football player with a great football brain,” said Wenger. “His career has been stopped by many injuries. Today, at the top level, the most important thing is the consistency of the presence. When a player’s been out for a while, the game is of such an intensity that it always takes you a while to get your confidence back.

“When you look at all the players who are at the top level in the world like Cristiano Ronaldo, these guys play 50 or 60 games a year. I believe, overall, Jack had a positive season and it is purely accidental. It was a tackle. It could have happened even if he had no problem ever before.”

Arsenal play Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final on Sunday and, amid so much doubt about his own future, Wenger was also adamant on Thursday that whether he stays as manager next season will not be influenced by this one game.

“It doesn’t play any part in that,” he said. “My commitment is total and I am only focused on Arsenal. The FA Cup is a very important game. It’s an opportunity to win a trophy this season. My future is Sunday.”

David Ospina, Danny Welbeck, Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez will also miss Sunday’s game through injury, with Wenger again preparing his players for the possibility of a three-man defence.

The system was introduced on Monday against Middlesbrough for the first time in Wenger’s 21-year tenure as manager and helped them end a run of four straight away defeats in which they had conceded 12 goals.

Sunday will also be Wenger’s 11th FA Cup semi-final and he has won the competition a record six times. 

“I remember my first semi-final when we played at Villa Park against Wolves,” he said.

“That’s the day when I realised how big the club is. We are focused, highly motivated, maybe not at the maximum of our confidence because we had recently some disappointing results. It’s a good opportunity to show we are ready for a fight. I think it could be a very intense game with two teams trying to go forward and very spectacular once the first goal is scored.”

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