Arsenal: Jack Wilshere comments make my heart jump

After Thursday night’s win against BATE Borisov, Jack Wilshere stated that he feels like a proper Arsenal player again. Such comments just make my heart jump.

I am aware that I am merely a man behind a laptop screen that many readers will have no awareness of or relationship with. However, there is one thing that you should know about me before you read this piece: I have had two ACL surgeries, one to my right knee; one to my left knee. I still feel the effects of those surgeries to this day, five years on from the first of those, and I have struggled to play football and other sports during that time. I have, unfortunately, a detailed and personal understanding of suffering from, playing through, and dealing with injuries.

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The reason I tell you this is a simple one. As Jack Wilshere returned to the Arsenal line-up on Thursday for his second start of the season, I was desperate for him to succeed. Not because I believe he is a good player, though I do. Not because I am a huge fan of the man, though I am. But because I am aware of the difficulties in recovering from injuries.

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Wilshere, frankly, has had far more severe and longer lasting injuries than I have. He has broken his leg three times, for example. He’s 25. But it was clear that, above all else, he was simply grateful to be playing again. After the 4-2 victory over BATE Borisov, Wilshere, in a powerful interview, revealed how he felt about playing for his boyhood club once more:

"“Football is a game where people forget. It has been a while since I felt a proper Arsenal player. But I am back, in training, back in the squad, playing these types of games. I was sat in the hotel last night thinking, and I couldn’t remember the last time I played a European away game for Arsenal. It was maybe three years ago.”"

Those comments, as someone who currently cannot play football because of injuries, make my heart jump.

For all of the distractions that modern football brings and holds, ultimately, players just want to play. I just want to play. Wilshere just wants to play. And when playing is denied because of problems and factors beyond your control, the frustration, and anger that builds is only intensified further.

So to see Jack play with the same youthful exuberance creativity, to see him burst past defenders with that quintessential swerve and explosion, to see him pierce the defence with sliding through balls, to see him bound across the pitch, playing with great freedom and enjoyment, was just wonderful.

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Whatever you may think of his abilities and his future, whether you see him as a wasted talent with no hope of an Arsenal career, or whether, like me, you wish for him to pervade the Emirates with the same creativity and genius that he did before, it is brilliant to see him simply playing once more. For now, the future does not matter. Let’s enjoy a present that consists of football, not physiotherapy.