He was supposed to be the future of English football.
He possessed technical abilities and vision that were rare in a British player;
more often found in Spain or South America And yet he would win his final international
cap at the age of just 24. He would be released on a free by Arsenal at
26. And would retire at just 30. So, what happened to Jack Wilshere?
Wilshere was actually a boyhood West Ham fan who idolised Paolo Di Canio,
but he would join Arsenal’s academy in 2001, just in time to see the Invincible era led
by Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry, and then to watch as the club transitioned away
from Highbury and to the new Emirates Stadium. It was the perfect time to be a young player at
Arsenal: the building of the new stadium limited the club’s transfer activity,
meaning the chance of breaking through into the first-team was never higher.
Wilshere was 16 on his debut, as a substitute against Blackburn. Like so many young Arsenal
prospects before him, though, his big initial impact came in the league cup when, making his
first start, he scored from the edge of the box to cap a fine performance against Sheffield United.
He hadn’t even signed his first professional contract, but his senior career was underway.
In 2009-2010, he would spend an instructive period on loan at Bolton Wanderers lower down the Premier
League, but the following season he would return, become a regular in Arsene Wenger’s first-team,
and – in the Champions League – give the performance that characterised his abilities.
It was February 2011 and the Champions League round-of-16 draw pitted Arsenal
against Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. Wenger’s side would emerge 2-1 winners in that game,
but Wilshere’s contribution was – and remains – what everyone remembers. Against a midfield three
of Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets, he provided all of Arsenal’s thrust, skipping through
tackles and driving his side up the field. It certainly left an impression on Xavi,
who many years later said: “It wasn’t a performance you forget easily”.
Guardiola was complimentary too, but in more of a backhanded way. Saying
that Barcelona had “many players in the second team like him” and that Wilshere
had “no pressure at his club to win titles.” Guardiola’s comments were treated as a slight
by the British media, perhaps not unreasonably: in 2011, long before The Football Association’s
technical revolution changed the profile of English players, it was still unusual
to find British-born midfielders who could even be compared, in style and size, to players like
Xavi and Iniesta. In the Premier League, it was still the era of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard,
to whom the 5ft8 Wilshere offered a contrast. But while typical English midfielders of the past
had been blessed with durability, Wilshere would prove fragile – and the first sign of that would
come at the end of his breakthrough season, at the Emirates Cup in the summer of 2011.
Wilshere suffered a sprained ankle that would eventually need surgery. At 19, it was actually
the beginning of the end: he experienced setback after setback. In the 2011-12 season, that surgery
was followed in the New Year by a knee operation. By the time he recovered, he hadn’t feature in
the Premier League for almost eighteen months. So began a cycle of terrible luck. Between 2011
and 2018, he would never again feature in more than 30 Premier League games in a season.
And yet still, his talent was able to periodically shine through. In 2014 and 2015,
he won the BBC’s Goal of the Season. First with a smart finish at the end of an impossibly
intricate move against Norwich. Then, with a fearsome half-volley against West Brom.
He was also consistently one of England’s best players during their run towards the
2016 European Championship in France and would score his only two goals for his country in a
game against Slovenia, the second of which remains one of the finest goals
scored during Roy Hodgson’s tenure as coach. His class survived, and so too did his sense
of mischief. After Arsenal won the 2015 FA Cup, Wilshere – in a bucket hat and
sunglasses – led the gathered Arsenal fans in song, mocking near-rivals Tottenham.
His career had highlights, no doubt, but they were never as sustained as they
might have been. He would be loaned out to Bournemouth in search of fitness in 2016-17,
but by the time he was released by Arsenal a year later, he was a diminished player whose
dynamism and speed had been ground down. He would spend two years at West Ham, a
further twelve months at Bournemouth and then, as a final act, half a season in Denmark. All told,
though, after 14 years and despite beginning at just 16, by the time he retired in 2022 he had
played in fewer than 300 senior club games. Wilshere often showed what a good player he
was. That his career felt unrealized, though, was a measure of what it might have been.
And perhaps his talent and his bad luck were intertwined? One theory was that his playing
style exposed him to injuries. Coaches described him as fearless, and as never being afraid to
carry the ball forward or snap into tackles to win it back. The irony being, of course,
that the approach which defined Wilshere as a player ultimately harmed him, too, and
stopped him from having the career which looked certain to be his as a teenager.