If you had said four or five years ago that Jack Wilshere would be playing for Bournemouth in 2016, few people would have believed you.
Back then, the midfielder had broken through at Arsenal and looked nailed on to be a big part of his boyhood team’s future, while the Cherries were down in League 1.
But things have changed a great deal since. Bournemouth are now in their second Premier League season, while a succession of injuries have seen Wilshere drop down the pecking order at the Emirates Stadium.
And the England international has spoken for the first time about the conversation with manager Arsène Wenger that convinced him to spend this season on loan on the South Coast.
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‘I actually sent him a text to begin with. I said I wanted to come in and speak to him. He said he wasn’t around for a few days with it being international week. But he told me to call him and I did,” the 24-year-old told the Daily Mail.
The conversation happened just days before the transfer window closed, with Wilshere admitting his omission from Sam Allardyce’s first and only England squad convinced him to think hard about his future.
He has since played six times under Eddie Howe in the Premier League, including a 90-minute runout against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, and will hope to be in contention for an international recall when Gareth Southgate names his squad for the World Cup qualifier against Scotland and the friendly meeting with Spain in November.
“I spoke to [Wenger] and he said, “You will play”. But I wanted more than that. I want to play week in, week out, be an important player for the team,” Wilshere added.
“I’m at my best when I’m playing regularly, when people are relying on me and I’m an important member of the team.
“I said to the boss, “You know what kind of player I am, what type of character I am, I need to play, it would be best if I leave.”
Nearly one third of Wilshere’s 159 Arsenal appearances came in his breakthrough season in 2010/11, and he last completed 90 minutes for the Gunners in September 2014.
But a run of games for Bournemouth this season could put him very much back in the picture for (parent) club and country.
At 24 years of age, he still has plenty of time to get his career back on track and fulfil his huge potential.
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