Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger wants Jack Wilshere contract sorted next month to end uncertainty over midfielder’s future
England star is in the final few months of his £90,000-a-week agreement but has yet to open talks over fresh terms
ARSENE WENGER wants Jack Wilshere’s new contract sorted out next month to end all the uncertainty surrounding the midfielder’s Arsenal future.
Wilshere, 25, is in the final few months of his £90,000-a-week agreement and has yet to open negotiations over a new deal.
But the Gunners boss is finally ready to sit down and talk now his longest-serving player has silenced the doubts provoked by his long-term injury problems.
And Wenger is determined to avoid the prospect of allowing Wilshere to follow Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil out of the Emirates exit as a free agent next summer.
Wenger insisted: “Jack’s situation will be decided in December. I want to give him the first six months of the season not to think about that and then see where we go from there.
“We need to clear things up before the transfer window arrives. At the moment Jack is a little bit in conflict with Mesut Ozil in the position he plays. But ideally we want to keep both of them.”
Wilshere is now fully recovered from the broken leg he suffered in April while on loan at Bournemouth but has still not started a Premier League game for Wenger this season.
But he has been a central figure in Arsenal’s Europa League campaign and will return to the starting line-up for tonight’s home game against Red Star Belgrade.
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Wenger added: “It might have been the case at the start of the season that people looked at Jack as the forgotten man.
“But since he has started playing for us again everyone has begun to think about him in a different way. At the start of the season he was prepared to be in the dark, to work hard.
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“Now he has found that little bit of sharpness that is decided in the first two yards.”
Wenger will be disappointed to hear that Wilshere has been omitted from the England squad to play Germany and Brazil in the next two next weeks, after speaking with Three Lions coach Gareth Southgate about the player at the weekend.
Yet he remains convinced Wilshere can still be a key performer for his country.
He revealed: “I spoke to Southgate about Jack before the Swansea game at the weekend and told him he is in a very good way and ready to play with no restrictions.
“He is in better shape today than he was when he went to the Euros last year with England. Maybe he wasn’t quite ready for that tournament but you always think that even if he comes on as a substitute he can give you a dribble or a little trick.
“Jack is a player who can dribble as well as play the final ball. He can chip a little pass and he can go past people in the short space — and you don’t find many players who have all of those qualities.
“So you are always tempted to take these players even if they’re not 100 per cent and I don’t know how you can keep a super-fit Wilshere out of the England squad.
“I’m convinced an England call-up would help him because every positive experience is welcome when you have been frustrated so many times.
“It would be a boost for him to think about the World Cup and the chance to play for an England manager who has not included him yet.”
Wilshere was picked in Southgate’s first England squad a year ago but did not play in either game against Scotland or Spain and has not been called up since.
He won the last of his 34 senior caps in the disastrous 2-1 defeat by Iceland in Roy Hodgson’s last match in charge in June 2016 and is now running out of time to force his way back into England’s World Cup plans.
So it is hardly surprising he does not want to commit himself to a new long-term Arsenal deal if he is going to be restricted to just Europa League duty and the domestic cup competitions.
Wilshere knows. too, he will be back on the bench for Sunday’s Premier League visit to leaders Manchester City as Wenger continues to use one set of players in midweek and a different team at weekends.
Wenger admitted: “I have gone into a rotation policy and there is no reason not to stick with that because both of the teams are doing well.
“Even in training, when we play them against each other, it’s very tight. This is the first time in my life I see the entire squad united and focused in every game.
“You cannot say that any player in any competition has gone a little bit easy. The focus of the team has always been exceptional and that is a real pleasure for me.
“We have another big game against Manchester City on Sunday but the focus is always on the next game.
“If we beat Red Star Belgrade we qualify for the next stage of the Europa League — and then we can look at the rest of the competition in a quieter way.”
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