Jack Wilshere is gradually becoming England’s forgotten man. The Arsenal midfielder’s career has been inundated by injuries resulting in him missing a whole season and a major international tournament in 2012. Despite this, given the chance Wilshere will be England’s key man in Brazil.
The emergence of the likes of Adam Lallana, Jordan Henderson and Ross Barkley may have hidden Wilshere from receiving the media recognition he deserves, but the greatest players will never stay hidden for long, and when given a stage, up steps Jack Wilshere, a man for the big occasions. He’s the sort of player who has his finest games against the biggest teams. Barcelona, Brazil, Bayern are all games amongst many more when you remember seeing Wilshere at his very best.
Let’s not forget Wilshere is only 22 years in age, but in terms of experience he could easily be mistaken as a 30-year-old veteran. He’s a man who’s dealt with more issues than the average 22-year-old both on and off the field, which is a big advantage over certain players in the England squad, some of whom you could argue are “one season wonders”. Will the likes of Sturridge, Lallana and Henderson have a season as successful as this one ever again? The Arsenal man is one of only a few players in this relatively inexperienced England squad who has had the luxury of playing Champions League football throughout his whole career.
Internationally, the name Jack Wilshere is recognised. Barcelona and Brazil defender Dani Alves referred to Wilshere as ‘a great player’ and compared his potential to that of Barcelona midfielders Andres Iniesta and Xavi while Bayern Munich’s Bastian Schweinsteiger called him ‘one of the best players there are’ in his position. Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Reus hailed him as “a perfect player” The list of plaudits goes on with Pep Guardiola being another of many admirers. Yet for some reason there is a debate as to whether this guy is going to start the first game in an England team which hasn’t been this poor in decades! This is a guy who in the right system with the right team around him has the ability to win a World Cup
Has the England team really become so bad that half a good season in the Premier League means you can start for England at a World Cup? I don’t see that happening in Brazil or Spain’s national teams. When here we have a naturally gifted footballer who’s youth, senior, international and individual honours are something most players could only dream of achieving in their entire career. Yet we still have certain people who feel dropping Wilshere and labelling him overrated is deemed okay because he’s not flavour of the month.
Paul Scholes remarks about Wilshere “not having improved” provoked the anti Wilshere enthusiasts to speculate. But the comment seemed thoughtless and failed to give any explanation as to why he thought this. It seemed more a case of being controversial for the sake of it on what was his first TV punditry appearance. A fascinating story later emerged that Wilshere actually rung Scholes to ask him to explain his comments. Wilshere in an interview said he felt “hurt” by his comments and that he feels he has in fact improved managing to add goals to his game. A very valid point. With one of those goals this season turning out to be the runaway winner of goal of the season. Another quality Jack has improved on this season is his versatility. The midfielder found himself deployed in a number of roles this year including wide right, wide left, in the number 10 role and in arguably his best position as a central left sided deep lying midfielder in a 4231 a formation both England and Arsenal play. This role allows him to use his creativity and defensive work ethic as well as being able to use his energy to pick the ball up deep and run at defenders. A skill which is rare for central midfielder’s nowadays.
Wilshere’s drive, vision and football intelligence can certainly make a genuine impact at what will be his first major international tournament. So my message to England fans would be do not right this guy off just yet because so long as we’ve got Jack in our team we’ve got a chance.
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