One good game against Barcelona and he became the next Andres Iniesta, with headlines such as “Wilshere is the midfielder we have been waiting for” and “Spain’s maestros applaud the future of English football”. Fast-forward five years and Jack Wilshere is on the bench for a Bournemouth side that has a capacity crowd of 11,464. The hype killed Jack.
When Arsene Wenger gave Wilshere his first taste of league football as a 16-year-old in 2008 he was the club’s youngest ever Premier League player. After a spell on loan at Bolton he became a first-team regular while still a teenager. When he rolled the ball past a couple of players each week and played forward passes better than several England midfielders he quickly became the new hope for the nation that has always disappointed on the big stage. Then came the February 2011 tie against Barcelona that Arsenal astonishingly won 2-1, with Wilshere lauded as the player of the day.
In the following weeks he produced outstanding performances against Premier League minnows, leading a host of admirers and deluded fans to believe he could be the next Iniesta. His off-the-pitch issues such as repeatedly being caught smoking and misbehaving in nightclubs began the downward slope for him.
On the pitch, the Stevenage-born midfielder struggled to maintain his form and was often ruled out by niggling injuries. One reason for those injuries was the fact he never pulled out of a tackle. That can be a great trait in a top player but when you are a mere 5’ 7” it can also have its negative effects. Wilshere continued to pick up injuries and as time went on his injuries grew more serious, ruling him out for longer and longer periods. The England star was suddenly a hero only to young deluded Gunners fans, which is still the case today with serious pundits having lost interest in him.
At 25, Wilshere seems to have hit a brick wall. Unable to play regularly for a mid-table Premier League team and recently suffering another major leg break, it seems there will be no way back for him. This isn’t the first time the English fans and pundits have piled pressure on young shoulders and Wilshere is one of many young players who have had a good burst of form but a much quicker decline. Unfortunately that is part of being a PL player for a big club although there are ways to handle it. Dele Alli would be the perfect example but he is still at a tender age and we are yet to see what the English media will do to him.
Jack can now join a list of England’s failed footballers that is longer than the successful England footballers list.
Blame the media, fans or clubs, in the end it comes down to the player and Wilshere has let himself and the nation down but he won’t be the first and he isn’t the last. Too much money, too soon.
by Nubaid Haroon YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCtMg-fWm7awR41vM1GhVOkA Twitter: twitter.com/rambofyi
The post Football: Is Jack Wilshere Just Another English Footballer? appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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