The Metro are reporting that Jack Wilshere is on target to be fit for the start of next season, having missed the whole of the 2011/12 season with an ankle injury and other injury problems.
Wilshere was stretchered off in a pre-season friendly against New York Red Bulls last July and was initially ruled out for only a few weeks. However, the injury was much more serious than first thought and Jack had ankle surgery in September; our star midfield has suffered from a succession of setbacks in his rehabilitation ever since.
As recently as May, Jack had minor surgery on his knee in order to fix a small issue. However, if posts on his Facebook page are anything to go by, the player himself seems to think that he will be fit enough to join Arsenal on their pre-season tours of in Nigeria, China and Malaysia. We reported yesterday that Arsenal will face the Super Eagles (Nigeria’s national football team) as part of their first tour of Africa since 1993.
“Only had 5 days off. Just been keeping my head down and training everyday at the training ground. Proper graft. Looking forward to pre-season now.”
Wilshere is apparently meeting with a specialist later this week to discuss his rehabilitation and, if all goes well, he should be able to step up his ball work at the training ground. I guess that at some point he will join the rest of the team for regular pre-season training.
Having Jack back in the team will be a huge boost. As Wenger keeps reminding us over and over again, he will feel like a new signing. Jack adds another dimension to our midfield; in my opinion there was something that was lacking last season, despite the best efforts of the midfield trio of Arteta, Rosicky and Song.
If Jack thinks that he will be able to walk straight back into the team, he will have to think again. Rosicky has been in great form and fully deserves his place in the starting XI, while Arteta and Song are almost irreplaceable. Wilshere will have to get used to being on the bench occasionally as Wenger rotates the squad. It is also important to remember that we don’t want him to have too many games too quickly, or he could aggravate his injury and suffer further setbacks/complications.