Arsenal: Jack Wilshere exit confirmation a weight dropped and lifted

Arsenal and Jack Wilshere are finally parting ways, and while this is certainly a heavy weight to bear, it is also a weight lifted.

Jack Wilshere’s 17 year stay at Arsenal is finally coming to an end. According to his own Instagram, as reported by Sky Sports, Wilshere was very open about how things went down with the club, and how his talks with Unai Emery resulted in a realization.

He wasn’t going to get what he wanted here at Arsenal. He said that he would have gone for the less money deal, but the lack of playing time was just not acceptable.

You can’t blame him. As he said, at this point in his career, he needs consistent playing time at this level. If he wasn’t going to find it here at Arsenal, he has every right to ditch the club for somewhere else that can give it to them.

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There is such a conflicting of emotion knowing now, for sure, that Jack Wilshere is leaving. On the one hand, there is a massive weight dropped.

Parting ways with someone who has been at the club for 17 years is never going to be easy. That much is obvious. There is bound to be an emotional connection to a club and to its fan base when you spend that long with a club, but with Wilshere, it’s something more.

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With Wilshere, he essentially took on the embodiment of the club. All of the hopes and dreams of the clubs paralleled with his as a player. All of the disappointment and the stunted growth did the exact same. It was dual parts beauty and tragedy.

That’s a weight to bear.

But it’s a weight lifted. Because all of the hopes and dreams attached to Wilshere, they were, unfortunately, never realized. And there was a certain sense of being handcuffed to his growth. That there was a spot constantly reserved for him that no one else could fill. And until he filled it, it would go empty.

That changed lately. Mostly because this past year he was given the chance to finally rise to that reserved spot.

He didn’t take it, and that weight almost hit again, that weight of knowing what was being held out for him. But with the new direction of the club, that is over.

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And that, as unfortunate as it sounds, is a weight lifted.