Planet Swans ArchivesWe all know that Wilshere has got potential but injuries and, at time, his attitude has let him down but if Paul Clement believes that he can realise his potential then it would certainly benefit the club if it was proved to be true.
I think it is fair to say that any move for Wilshere will only happen if Gylfi leaves the club (it seems as if we have many links at the moment that are dependent on that) but I certainly don’t subscribe to the fact that it would be a bad one.
It should of course also be remembered that this could just be paper talk generated by the agent to engineer a move for his client. With West Ham and Newcastle also both being linked then that piece certainly seems to make sense.
He spent last season on loan at Bournemouth where he made 22 starts in the league with a further 5 substitute appearances on top of that.
When he first arrived on the scene, a 16-year-old kid coming through the ranks at Arsenal, he was seen as the player England had been waiting for: a technically gifted passing midfielder who had a little spark and toughness, the sort that could control a game.
Wilshere’s career though has felt unfulfilled, to this point a disappointment. Partly that is down to the litany of injuries he has suffered, to the point that he only made his 100th Premier League start in November this season, eight years after making his debut.
It’s also down to confusion, indecision and a lack of clarity about what sort of midfielder he is and what his best position is. For Arsenal, he would often play in a two or three-man midfield, occasionally out wide. England briefly tried to turn him into a deep-lying playmaker, a sort of imitation Andrea Pirlo. For Bournemouth, he’s broadly been a No.10, playing ahead of two players who would do much of the grubby work and behind a centre-forward.
However, if we are interested in the player we should look beyond that and know better than anyone that sometimes a change in club is as much of a kick start than anything else. He has the attributes, the question is whether we could develop them and whether we are prepared to take an expensive gamble in trying to do so.
If the answer is yes then I’m in.
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