Arsenal: Jack Wilshere Can Still Be The Lead Character

This summer, Jack Wilshere will return to Arsenal with a year remaining on his deal. The former starlet can yet fulfil his potential as the lead character.

The development of young players is rarely a straight and well-signposted path. It is turbulent; it requires patience; it brings peaks and troughs; it often brings failure, rather than success; it can be an approach that costs manager’s their jobs. For Arsenal, though, it is an unwavering ideal that influences every decision that is made at every level of the club.

Related Story: 5 Players Who May Side With Alexis Sanchez

While it may not necessarily be academy graduates that break into the first team, the Gunners’ transfer policy has seen them target talent youngsters – Cesc Fabregas, Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott, Hector Bellerin – and trust their coaching to nurture them into world stars.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 observations from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park

Perhaps the figurehead of the club’s youth policy is Jack Wilshere. He is also, though, the figurehead of the difficult that can be found in working with talented youngsters. Currently out on loan with Bournemouth after a series of injury-ravaged seasons, when asked about his long-term future under the cloud of a contract that has a little over a year remaining, Wilshere stated that he would decide his future until the end of the season:

"“I’m not thinking about it. I’ve got a year left at Arsenal. As soon as the season ends, I’l sit down and I’ll think about it. But my main concern at the moment is trying to keep Bournemouth in this league. No matter what happens next year – if I’m here, if I’m not, if I’m at Arsenal, whatever – you know no-one wants a relegation next to their name. You don’t want to be involved in a team that got relegated… At the end of the season, I’ll have a think about it.”"

They are sensible comments. He and Bournemouth are in the midst of a relegation battle that, for a small, South Coast club, is one that they cannot afford to lose. However, given the state of his soon-to-be-expired contract, the willingness of Arsene Wenger to send him out on loan and the long history of injury issues, there is more than reasonable doubt to suggest that Wilshere will never replicate the career that many had hoped of him.

Breaking into the first team at such a young age with such immediate success had thrust some rather hefty hopes and dreams onto his shoulders. As of now, he is yet to deliver. While that is not his fault, that is the sad fact of the matter.

Next: Arsenal: 4 Players In Need Of A Resurrection

Nonetheless, Arsenal would be unwise to allow his contract to dwindle down. Wilshere is still immensely talented and, as Eddie Howe has proven this year, with careful management, can excel throughout a whole season. Wilshere can yet by the Gunners’ lead character, but patience and a new contract are vital.