Arsenal: Jack Wilshere Really Is Another Abou Diaby

Arsenal looks to be flirting with the idea of loaning out Jack Wilshere. This means that he is in it for the long haul and may very well be the next Abou Diaby.

I have always resolutely stood up for Jack Wilshere because when he is truly clicking, the lad is just magnificent to see. The problem has always been that the lifelong Arsenal man just can’t stay healthy. It’s no fault of his, it’s just poor luck that has followed him his entire career.

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This lead many to refer to the Englishman as the reincarnation of Abou Diaby. The French midfielder spent ten seasons on the books at Arsenal but only managed to average 12.5 appearances per season. Meanwhile, Jack Wilshere has been with the Arsenal senior team for eight years and has average… 12.875 appearances per season.

Still, I managed to convince myself that Wilshere was not another Diaby. I don’t know what it was, I just didn’t want that negative mantra to be attached to Wilshere, who was/is still so young and potentially game-changing.

But after hearing that Wilshere will be allowed to leave the club on loan this year, it had really set in. He very well is on track to becoming the next Diaby.

While Arsenal never loaned out Diaby, the token of Diaby’s term was that he was probably kept too long and never really vindicated Wenger’s faith in him. Even then, when the midfield was not all that stacked, Diaby was a peripheral figure. When he was healthy, like Wilshere, he was fantastic, but when was he ever actually healthy for more than a couple weeks?

Wilshere does not really have a place at the club anymore, but Wenger will never outright sell him. Not this early in his career. No doubt this loan was prompted by Wilshere not getting the call-up to Sam Allardyce’s England team due to a lack of appearances, but we still have to wonder if this loan is just prolonging the inevitable. When will Wilshere ever fight his way back into this starting XI?

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Aaron Ramsey is leaps and bounds ahead of him and he’s just a year older. Francis Coquelin is a defensive stalwart, he’s a year younger. Granit Xhaka is going to be a decade-long menace in the middle of the pack and Mohamed Elneny has tremendous upside as well. Both of them are a year younger as well.

So where does Jack fit? He doesn’t want to be a career rotational option. The only feasible career path he could have is to wait for Mesut Ozil to move on and try to take that role, but when will that actually be and won’t Gedion Zelalem and Jeff Reine-Adelaide be ready and waiting when it does finally happen?

It’s a grim prospect for Wilshere. I’ll try to stay optimistic because this lad has always been the future of Arsenal but he has slowly been weaned away from his legacy. It may be best just to scrap it altogether.

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