Arsène Wenger has said he has never considered selling Jack Wilshere, nor is he about to start. The midfielder, who has been with the club since the age of nine, stated recently that it would hurt if Arsenal sold him and feel strange to wear another shirt. Wenger responded by emphasising his commitment to the 23-year-old.
“I made Jack Wilshere start at 17 years of age,” said the Arsenal manager. “That means that you cannot show a bigger desire of wanting a player. We have always extended his contract and we have been very patient with all his injuries. At some stage I think he must feel wanted. We always stood by him through every difficult moment. Does that mean we want him to stay here for a longer period? Yes, as we would like to benefit from his talent now.” The message to any potential suitors is an unequivocal hands off.
Wilshere is one of the group of players waiting anxiously to discover whether he will be selected for the FA Cup final. Last year he came off the bench to make an impression as an impact substitute in extra-time against Hull City. A recent series of sharp cameos and a dazzling volley last Sunday against West Brom have strengthened Wilshere’s case for a more active role.
Wenger is adamant that Wilshere and Theo Walcott, who has also had to wait patiently for his opportunity to work his way back into the team post-injury, will stay to give the peak years of their careers to Arsenal.
The manager’s vision for Walcott’s future appears to be in a central striking role. “He can play on the flank, but if you ask me where do I see him in the future, it is through the middle. If you ask him, he will tell you as well through the middle. Why? Because he is a good enough finisher, he has electric pace and he has top, top quality in the timing of his runs. If you analyse that, it is the quality of his receptions, the space where he gets the ball basically, that is above average compared to many players.”
Walcott and Wilshere have pushed hard for a place in a first XI that until recently looked set enough to restrict them to the substitutes’ bench. There are a handful of positions with an intriguing either/or option that Wenger has been mulling over before Wembley.
Wenger insists that when he makes the big selection choices, it is imperative the substitutes feel as important as the first XI. “The whole squad has to focus on doing it as most of the time the heroes are the guys who come on,” he said. “I remember last year in extra-time I brought on [Tomas] Rosicky and Wilshere. After, I spoke with the Hull guys and they told me: ‘When we saw them coming on, we knew that we didn’t have a chance any more.’ Most of the time it is a squad achievement, a cup final.”
Wenger is urging his players to avoid dicing with calamity in this season’s final, as they did last season when a shocking start gave Hull a two-goal lead in eight minutes before Arsenal recovered to win 3-2. “I was thinking that it was a nightmare day,” the Frenchman said of how he felt at that precarious moment. “All the fans came full of hope and we are 2-0 down. It could have been three as [Kieran] Gibbs saved on the line. With the pressure on it was really a nightmare.”
They were able to turn the situation into a triumph and that is a lesson Wenger and his players took from the experience. “I was ready for a fight. I was ready to fight until the end. You knew that you need a goal and certainly the free-kick of Santi Cazorla was very important. After that it was important to keep the players calm and not rush the game. Just be patient, come back to 2-2.
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