Arsenal: Jack Wilshere Situation Worsened By Francis Coquelin Memory

Arsenal’s midfield predicament could be a lot less trying if they had another option, and Jack Wilshere could have been that. So yes, be frustrated.

There has been a lot of talk about who Arsenal could turn to to alleviate the current stress on the Gunner’s midfield. With Francis Coquelin out for a month, Santi Cazorla out for what looks like the rest of the season and Mohamed Elneny on international duty, the Gunner’s formerly stacked holding midfield has been whittled down to Xhaka and Ramsey.

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Which isn’t the worst thing in the world, but again – options. Options are necessary for a club in as many competitions as Arsenal and as it stands, there just aren’t any options.

Which makes us wonder what Jack Wilshere could have done. He has played 17 of Bournemouth’s 20 matches and has been a central piece of their equation, playing in the No. 10 role that Mesut Ozil has claimed back at the Emirates.

It has also led to questions about why Jack Wilshere couldn’t be recalled, even if just for a little bit. After all, isn’t that how Francis Coquelin got his grand start?

Well, as it turns out, Arsene Wenger may not have inserted a return clause into the loan deal, meaning that Bournemouth have no obligation to give Wilshere back, and why would they, with how well the Englishman has been doing with their club?

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As such, some people are a bit frustrated that Wenger didn’t have a return clause in Wilshere’s loan deal and those frustrations are completely justifiable. That is poor planning and it may even show a lack of attention to detail. Here are his exact words:

Yes, I could use him now,” Le Prof said, as quoted by Football365. “But if he had not played until now, he would not be ready to play now. What looks unfair at some moments in the season is that you know at some stage you could need the player.

“But even at the start you need to have the right balance between competition and numbers and chances for the player to play. And still today I think it was the right decision for him to go.”

Wenger obviously knows that return clauses are real things because he utilized it masterfully to pull back Francis Coquelin from Charlton Athletic in what would prove to be a revolutionary move that repaired a huge missing piece of a Gunner’s broken midfield.

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The fact that the same thing could have been utilized here with Wilshere, but wasn’t implemented, is very frustrating.