Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger took his seat at Underhill on Monday evening, and watched on as 16 year old England Youth international Jack Wilshere added to his growing reputation, by making a goal for Rui Fonte, and scoring the second as the Reserves beat an impressive West Ham side 2-0.
Wenger along with Assistant Academy Director David Court, and Under 18s manager Steve Bould all sat together to study the youngsters. But were treated to a superb show as the Hale End product made it two goals in two Reserves League South starts. The strike was Wilshere’s 15th of a breakthrough season which has seen him become a regular for the super impressive Under 18’s, and his goals have helped them win the Academy League.
Wenger must now decide does he keep the prospect in the Reserves and Youth system, to develop in the usual way. Or does he take a gamble, promote him quickly in to the Carling Cup squad like he did with Cesc Fabregas.
Jack, no doubt has the attitude as well as talent to become a future great with the Gunners. However if Wenger was to misjudged his development and push him too early, it could prove to be a step back as the expectation on such a young player could be crippling.
Young Guns made the comparison two months ago between Wilshere and Alexander Hleb, something the commentary team on Arsenal TV have picked up on in the last two fixtures. for those of you who are not familiar with Jack i will give a brief explanation of what he is all about.
Jack is a left footed attack minded midfielder, capable of playing anywhere across the midfield or behind the striker. He is only 170cm but rugged and is willing to chase the ball down and run the channels, his low centre of gravity and deceiving pace allows marking difficult for opposition defenders.
But its his no fear approach when going forward that is impressive, never doubting his ability he is not afraid to shoot from range, and his talent to find space and pick an inch perfect pass makes him the biggest prospect in the Academy.
I personally have always thought if you are good enough, your old enough and Jack is bang in form, his confidence is high and with the first team taking on Derby County on Monday, he could be involved as Wenger looked really impressed.
However we all need to take a step back, he has had an brilliant season but there is alot of hype about him, and hype leads to pressure, and for a 16 year old being hailed as the new Fabregas or a new star we should let him develop, and i am sure Wenger will do his best to protect him.
In January he signed a long term scholarship contract, and is expected to go professional before the turn of the year, by then he could have become a first team member. Wilshere must now dust himself down and get ready for Saturday’s play off semi-final against Aston Villa with the Under 18s. Should Arsenal win they will face the winners of Man City V Sunderland at the Emirates on Tuesday.
The future looks very bright for Jack Wilshere.. don’t expect to much to soon from him, but no doubt remember the name.
Article By – J.Sanderson
Give him a pro contract now before he decides to leave! :)
He’s gotta be better on the right wing than Eboue or left wing than Diaby! If those mugs can get games; why can’t he! :D
I take your point, but the whole point of this article, is that we dont push him too early.
The media can destroy him, and we as fans can put expectations on him
Having seen some video of him with the u18s he reminds me of Liam Brady. Good left foot, excellent on the ball, good vision and bags of confidence.
I think its best that he keeps playing reverse football atleast for another then see if he ready for 1st team because it aint that easy to break into the premiership look at walcott.Its only now he’s really found his feet
Great article like always Jamie. It would be great to see himl against Derby but its maybe too early.
the first time i seen him was on the Malysian World Clubs Tournament who Arsenal Youth team was there , and the match Between Ac Milan Vs Arsenal , i only takes 20mins to search about his name on the internet and i said to myself this is a such a very good player , and to be honest he was have the real impact on the youth team if we said the tour was for the U21 .. and he was 15years only there .. this season develop better , and i accept him to be a bright days with arsenal soon , but we should to try to take away the ENGLISH Stupid Media from him ..
I don’t think Wenger will fast-track him into the first team because he is English and the level of hype and hysteria, which would follow could overwhelm him. Unlike Cesc, who was not from this Country, his presence would not go unnoticed and look at what Theo has had to put up with.
As it is Jack has already been fast-tracked into the reserves at only 16 and has not looked out of place there so far. After a full season in the reserves where he will come up against some first team experienced defenders, if he continues to impress, I’m sure he will appear on the bench for CC games as part of his development the season after next.
Leave him with the reserves next season I say. Let him consistently prove himself there, as he’s only made two starts for them. He’ll be 17 at the end of next season, and then he can get a spot on a CC bench. Let him grow. He’s got all the potential in the World, and needs to be taken care of as you’ve said in the piece.
That said, I think Bostock getting all the attention will work in his favour. Bostock seems to thrive in it, and Wilshere probably won’t be hyped up until he makes his debut…I hope, lol.
Why does Wenger need to make a decision, he’s just turned 16, why play him now.
Give him another 18 months in the Reserves and watch his development, he isn’t better than Hleb, Eboue or Walcott yet so why weaken the side?
You lot are telling the media to get off his backs when in truth, you’re the ones who are giving him all the hype and expectation.
He barely resembles Hleb as a player at all. The nearest in style is Wayne Rooney(with left rather than right foot).He will eventually probably be a shadow striker.If you don’t believe me than ask AW. Thats exactly the position he thought on seeing the goal and assist against WHU.
I personally really rate Jack Wilshere but a season in the reserves with an occasional Carling Cup outing should we progress in that particular tournament will make him a better player than just shoving him into the first team because the media will be all over him
huh? you want to play against robbie savage?
no no.. let him play in the reserves for the time being.. he’s english.. he’ll get overhyped..
Walcott made his debut for Arsenal at the ago of 17.
Although he got already hyped up due WC.
But if he’s good enough why not, and you said he has the right attitude.
He is sixteen years old, ffs.
The reason he is not better than Diaby or Eboue is because he would wilt even under Carling Cup competition.
Give the kid time, and stop hyping him up.. Not everyone is Cesc Fabregas.
Remember, if he plays for us now he would be the youngest Arsenal player in history. Of course it would be fun to see him and I bet he is good enough for Derby but there is no need to rush. I think he will spend next season in the reserve and he might well be on the bench for Carling Cup. The season after that he will either be loaned out or become a member of the first team, or that’s how I see it.
He is 3 years younger than Walcott but there are less than 2 years since Theo made his Arsenal debut. Fabregas was the same age when he made his League debut. I think that all we can expect for next season is occassional Carling Cup games from the bench, at best. He is young, his time will come but let spare the EPL defenders for a little longer, the beast will be released.
we need wilshere now please; our squad has been extra thin……
I’ve watched this lad a lot this season as well as playing for England on Sky last season. He’s only just 16 don’t forget, but he is an outstanding talent with a good football brain, and whats more he’s english yet has excellent technique.
Should definitely stay with reserves for start of next season, which I would imagine means training with the first team squad, where they will be able to judge when he is ready to step up.
One thing for certain in my opinion is that he can definitely be a regular first team player eventually, and if the Hleb comparison turns out to be true lets hope it doesn’t mean his goalscoring feats dry up!
perhaps he’s more of a Pires than a Hleb? I mean, check out that goal!
off topic. I noticed on wikipedia that Barazite is nearly 6 foot 5 inches tall. he does not seem that tall to me – more like 6’1″. can you confirm his height?
Walcott didn’t start playing football till he was 11 and a lot of things that come naturally to some footballing teenagers, like reading the game, were a struggle until the last few months. Knowing when to shoot, when to cross, when to cut inside, when to stay wide, when to track back etc., etc didn’t come naturally to Theo.
None of this is a problem for Jack because just like Cesc he’s played from a very early age and has vision, quite apart from which he always has his head up. Young Jack’s awareness is as amazing as Cesc’s was at 16.
I’d have money on him playing in the Carling Cup next season. Not playing him in the CC would be to hold him back because he clearly has what it takes.
whatever happens im sure that the ‘Professor'(Arsene Wenger) would be able to get the best out of the lad. ;)
or maybe they can loan him out to a lower leagues side like what they did for Nicklas Bendtner to Birmingham?
bet hes still better than Bendtner though. haha.
I’d rather see him kept in the reserves next season. My qualm is quite simply that people will tend to overhype him and place far too much pressure and expectancy on the young lad’s shoulders.
When Theo Walcott joined the club, he was no doubt talented; however, he was very raw. Wenger wanted to develop him down the flanks and give him time to progress and become a better player, but people simply opted to write him off on the basis that Wayne Rooney was an international by his age. I was very worried that he would crack under the pressure and while he is definitely finding his feet now, it’s clear that should he underperform for a few games, the critics will come straight back for him – lambasting Wenger and Arsenal for ruining his career.
People are now demanding to see more of Walcott, and while he has probably earned some more first team exposure, the hype surrounding the 19 year old is absurd.
At the moment, very few people have heard of Jack Wilshere outside of Arsenal, and I believe it would be best to try and keep it that way whilst he develops as a player.
BTW Barazite is 6 foot 1 – Football Manager originally claimed he was 6 foot 4 and that is where the confusion arose.
I am a fond believer of the saying “if you are good enough then you are old enough”. Many of the great players came into the first team squad at an early age and it did them no harm.
Players in Brazil are often promoted to the senior team at an early age and it seems to work for them, also look at tghe Ajax team that for years seemed to bring a new youngster through every year – the likes of Bergkamp, Kluivert, Davids and Seedorf all did well enough.
The lad looks like he has something special about him and this needs to be encouraged to blossom – I would look at bringing him into more training sessions with the first team and see how he copes with that first, if he handles the move up then i would look to loan him out to a feeder club (spain or america) for 6 months / half a season. It would be ideal if we managed to strike up the partnership with Ajax as it would alow us to send him there to pick up some of the skills that they teach thier youths.
Stuart summed it up, good post!
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