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Is This One Jack Wilshere Injury Too Many for Arsenal?
By Josh Sippie
In a bit of heart-wrenching yet unsurprising news, Jack Wilshere has sustained a hairline fracture to his left ankle and is expected to miss up to two months of the season, BBC Sport reports. It does not need to be stated how many injuries Jack Wilshere has had, but in case you had somehow forgotten, the kid has been riddled with injuries since he was 18, making just 100 Premier League appearances since that year, according to ESPN FC.
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Each progressive injury to the English midfielder always figured to be more and more unfortunate, but this injury just has the feel that it cannot get any more unfortunate. I had already noted that this injury comes at that worst possible time for Arsenal and for Jack Wilshere, but now that we know the severity, you just have to wonder if it will ever stop or if this is another case of the About Diaby’s.
Arsene Wenger previously noted that Jack Wilshere needed “one or two years without problems to get the full confidence and belief back,” (BBC Sport). For most people, that does not seem unreasonable, but for Jack Wilshere, it now feels impossible.
I do not expect Arsene Wenger to just pull the plug on the Jack Wilshere experiment. That would be uncharacteristic of him. He gave Abou Diabby years upon years of chances and he will do the same for Wilshere. But at some point in Abou Diaby’s career, he stopped being a piece of Arsenal’s plans. He was just a bonus if healthy and nothing more. This may have been that injury for Jack Wilshere.
A lot of that belief comes from the timing of the injury and the situation surrounding it.
Arsenal have turned a corner. They have a healthy, deep squad (at most positions) and they have a ton of hope in winning the title. They have a core of very solid young players that are all growing together as team mates that look to be the lifeblood of this team for the next decade.
Jack Wilshere fit into that. He was healthy, playing fantastic and ready to be a part of Arsenal’s plans. His injuries were behind him, or at least I foolheartedly believed that they were. And then we were reminded that this is still Jack Wilshere, and his ankles are still incredibly fragile.
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Now, however, Jack Wilshere is not a part of that. And while it would have been nice to have him as a part, the team is still fully capable of winning a title without him. In fact, despite the devastation I felt over hearing that Wilshere was hurt again, I was still just as confident in the team because of the talent we have. In previous years, I had felt that we needed Jack Wilshere, but not this year. We are built to do without.
And while we are without, the team will continue to progress without him.
Jack Wilshere has immense talent and we have been privileged to see that talent on display at the end of last season and this summer. Despite all of his injuries, he still manages to look better with each passing year and each passing injury.
However, it has come to the point that we expect Wilshere to be hurt and the team is now fully equipped to deal with his being hurt. There is no point in banking on him being a part of our future.
Next: 3 Arsenal Guys who Must Stay Fit