Arsène Wenger is set to grant 16-year-old Jack Wilshere the chance of a life time, by including him in the squad to take on Italian giants Juventus and Spanish superpower Real Madrid, in this weekend’s Emirates Cup.
According to London based newspaper the “London Lite” Wilshere will be granted the opportunity to ply his trade alongside Europe’s finest, as Arsenal look to retain the inaugural title from last year.
The fact Wilshere has even been considered ready enough to take to the field in the prestigious tournament is an achievement in itself, and it once more reflects how highly Wenger rates the fleet footed play-maker.
It has proved to be a phenomenal season for Jack, who started the campaign as Under 16’s captain, and has had a hugely influential role in pre-season so far. His creative performance against Barnet helped see Jay Simpson and Nacer Barazite rescue the win, and although he was involved in the frustrating Szombathelyi Haladás game, he would be saving his best until last.
The final fixture of the Austrian training camp brought two goals, numerous assists, and yet more people talking about his incredible talents. However, on Wednesday he showed he can cut it with the big boys, as his professional attitude flourished, and he was in the goals once more after volleying the third in a 3-1 win.
Saturday and Sunday will bring tough challenges for everybody involved, and once more Wilshere will be given the chance to show he is ready to provide something during the coming season.
Article By – J.Sanderson
It will be good to see him against some stiffer opposition
yes
We shouldn’t rush him. He has shown what he can do, but the chances are he won’t play a big part this season. One step at a time….
think if he plays well again n assists n scores over the weekend, than Mr Wenger’s gona hav to guve him a run in the Prem. He gives us something different. He’s like a Fabregas on the wings.
Gibbs was involved last year and he wasn’t seen again was he? Good for the fella tho.
Definitely need to keep Wilshire under wraps. He might get a few squad call ups but thats it. Way too early to be talkin about starting in the prem.
J, do you know if any of the other youngsters will be involved like those who were in Austria (Randall, Lansbury, G Hoyte, Simpson) or others like Gibbs, Merida, Barazite, Nordveit?
Not to start a prem game but to come off the bench against opposition who are both physically and mentally tired, he will have an immense impact on the game. Like a Fabregas on the wings. Haha….i like it Mike.
Gibbs became a star after the game Spike, he became better know at international level, and when we played Crawley he was really hyped up because of the game.. and bagged the winner, it was a great starting block.
Last year we had loads of youngsters on the bench, and i would expect the same. I believe Randall even started against PSG?
I reckon everyone will get a runout Ben as its two games in two days.
After Wilshere, I wonder if this Conor Henderson kid will breakthrough next season.
Potentially, he is another very highly rated young boy, with a superb passing range, and a deadly left foot.
Gibbs played how many times for us last season?
That was my point.
I don’t wish for him to be burnt out, but this is intriguing, as he must be really impressing Wenger. We will wait and see if he does appear in the league at some point
He spent half the year out on loan. The rest he featured during the Carling Cup, and made an excellent assist against Sheffield.
“Like Fabregas on the wings”.
Thats quality Mike. i totally agree with you
He’s also got a special move lol.
The way he cuts inside from the right and slots in the reverse ball is perfection. He will have to add to his arsenal (no pun intended lol) but its still beautiful to see it come off time and time again.
I will be watching the 2nd day so I am looking forward to seeing him playing against Real Madrid. He’ll probably come up against Heinze so that should be a tough test but he’s taking everything in his stride so far. Technically he looks almost ready but physically he needs a season or two to develop but I think Wenger will use him in the first team against less physical teams to protect him
Wonderful to see Wilshere included. I think Wenger wants him to develop through pre-season games, assess his strength and weaknesses, and then prepare him in the right way through reserves and youth games throughout next season.
i just ope he dosent get over xposed especially since hes only 16
wat a talent he is,i wish 2 c him in d emirates cup and amsterdam tournament nd 2 also c him feature in d carling cup.
Im going to both games this year as i did last year and JS Randall came off the bench and played really well he didnt start the game however. Im hoping to see Fran play as hes bin away with Spain so couldnt play in Austria and i rate him even higher than Wilshere.
I’d like see him come off the bench – he can be a great impact player 2moro
This Conor Henderson kid…who is he…any details??….and…..“Like Fabregas on the wings”….this quote will be legendary one day…hehe
If any cares, i just looked at the become legends away kit poster and the right corner where the shirts are hung, there is a no.7 shirt with wilsheres name on it!!!!!! how about tht lol
Good points Kevline. Read more about Conor in the player profiles section, he is a left footed, tall, centre midfielder, with great passing range.
Very promising young boy.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article1503530.ece
any1 tell me did they see this donkey staying? he now got a pa rise n needs to live up to last terms status n go 1 better
ANY GD FANTASY LEAGUES I CAN JOIN? any1 but the Sun pls
Great for Wilshere, great for us. He’ll prove how good he is when he ghosts past wprld class players and creat more chances than Hleb & Eboue did for the whole of last season.
Heard anything about this ‘whisper’ tonight – Hoyte +£14m for Gareth Barry?
ok…thanx..hve you seen him play…how do you rate him?? and where does he play in midfield??
He fully deserved it and I really would love to see Wenger give Barazite some minutes too cause I think he deserves is too. I hope he hasn’t forgot about him…
Hang on a minute i’ve watched Jack on numerous occaisions now, probably the same amount of times i watched Rooney before he stepped up at 16 and wilshere is much, much better than Rooney ever was at 16 and before you start going on about the fact that Rooney was built at that age it really doesn’t matter as Jack has the skills to not need t be a “big” lad. Technically superb and ready as far as i’m concerned. I would even go as far as to say that he has more end product, more awareness and a better footballing brain than Walcott has NOW and i like Walcott a lot. If you’re good enough you’re old enough….
Sorry this is a bit off the subject. What’s happened to Luke Freeman? I haven’t seen his name in any of the pre season stuff.
Thanks
Mouhsin – NOBODY can forget Nacer. It would be nice if he features though.
49 Unbeaten – Nice name…agree with what you said mate. He is a better player than Rooney was at that age. Different type of player to Walcott though. Jack oozes creativity whereas Theo is an explosive monster. What makes me laugh is that a lot of people have seen Theo play a few pre-season games and are starting to write him off (not saying you are…just, others have, thats all). He has improved the tactical aspect of his game, i.e. he now looks like he knows when to run, where to run and when to pass. I just wanna see Jack put someone like Heinze on his arse!
Conor Henderson looks good but i have only seen him play on the left. Good left foot, it must be said. He aint in Jack’s class though…Jack’s something else……
I hope he p[lays, he will humiliate Hinze or Marxelo….
Gonner23782 is funny, lol. I’m sure that says Rocastle on that number 7 shirt.
i agree with 49 unbeaten, to be honest he has shown all the ingredients you need in a right winger. The ability to receive the ball in tight situations, glide past the nearest player and then either shoot or play a decent ball. Having watched Jack for the last few games, he does exactly what i’ve described above EVERY time.
The Emirates Cup is live on Sky. That means that if Jack shines against Real and Juve. The English media are gonna start going nuts about him. Everytime they see a young English lad with great technical ability, they are all over him like the Spuds over an Arsenal transfer target.
I don’t agree with 49 unbeaten. Rooney has hardly gotten any better since being at Everton. Too much, too soon. Give Wilshere a chance to grow up a bit first. Fuck me, Arsene will do right by him anyway. Thank god fans don’t pick the team.
Actually Gunner4life he has. He has become much more of a team player at Manure. At Everton he wanted to everything on his own at times. At Manure he has been overshadowed by the greaseball but he is still a very good player on his day. The cunt always has a good game against us!
It sounds very promising and I hope it’s true, but I can’t see any facts in this blog entry, or is that just me? All I see is “Arsène Wenger is set” and London Lite speculating.
That being said, I do think he will be in the squad and perhaps get a few minutes. We shouldn’t expect him to shine though. It’s one thing to do it against Barnet and Burgenland, it’s another to do it against Stuttgart but it’s yet another step to do it against Real Madrid/Juventus when you’ve built up such a reputation.
I hope he gets a quick run in the Emirates Cup and then some sub-appreances or starts in the Carling Cup. I hope the (inevitable) promotion to the first team waits until next year though.
I saw Wilshire Play and he is on fire! I hope he is moved from reserves to the squad next season!
Preach.
Practice.
Discuss
http://youngguns.wordpress.com/2008/07/30/follow-wenger-in-lowering-wilshere-expectation/
when did the emirates cup become ‘prestigious’ J!?
this guy looks like a real talent lets hope we can hold on to him so he can sign a contract. Maybe we can chane his name to eboue then no1 wood touch him:P
Why is Barry’s picture posted at arsenal.com when he is not even our player?
http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?thisNav=News&article=494725&lid=NewsHeadline&Title=Wenger+-+I%27ll+only+buy+if+I+can+find+the+quality
Well Rooney doesn’t impress me much more than when I first saw him, so I can’t agree. He burnt out in my eyes, could be better than what he is.
If Wenger is to spend big(ish) this is the season as next season he will have TOP TOP loanees returning
Merida
Boletho
Barazite
Gibbs
Randall
Simpson
Gilbet
IMO we’ll keep 3- Merida, Barazite and Bothelo and make up to £10m off the other 5.
Oh yeah its possible that Wilshire & Coqelin might push for a squad place next season too.
And so we wait!
i wonder who will start againts juve n madrid. must be completely different team.
i predict this line up, first againts real madrid:
almunia
sagna gallas djourou clichy
walcott fabregas denilson nasri
adebayor RVP
juve:
fabianski
hoyte senderos nordtveit/toure traore
randall/landsbury eboue ramsey wilshere
vela bendtner
he remains me of joe cole or a english pele
anyone selling two tickets for today game my numba is 07934052078
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Wilshire reminds me of a young Joe Cole except Wilshire has end product, Cole lacked this at the same age. We must try not to get too excited but how far will his footballing brain develop by the time he’s in his mid 20s ? This is more exciting than spending £mils on an established star like the Chavs.
He looks good, probably deserves better competition than he is getting in the reserves. Rooney started playing in the first team at 16 – why can’t Wilshire?
did anyone ever watch joe cole at that age? i saw him play for england schoolboys, he was a year younger than the rest but he was lightyears ahead of any of them in terms ok skill, ability and footballing brain. but i only ever watched cole against lads of the same age and ave only ever seen wilshere against lads older than him
i watched joe cole when he was 14 years old at the milk cup in ireland.he scored the goal that won them the cup and was one of the best at the tournament
Today, Joe Cole should be better than he actually is. He was over-hyped. Jack is a better prospect. He has an aggressive nature to his game. Joe Cole would pussy-foot about a lot. Great skill he had but didnt have the bottle like Jack does. He has now but Jack can surpass Joe Cole if he keeps his feet firmly on the ground. Something AW will make sure of.
A SONG IS NEEDED FOR JACK WILSHERE.
HERE’S MY SUGGESTION FOR THE FUTURE SUPERSTAR…………
(To the tune of ‘Hit the Road Jack’)
HIT THE PITCH JACK,
HE’S GOT THE KNACK,
LET’S SOAR, LET’S SOAR. LET’S SOAR, LET’S SOAR!!
HIT THE PITCH JACK,
HE’S GOT THE KNACK,
LET’S SOAR, LET’S SOAR. LET’S SOAR, LET’S SOAR!!
and repeat to fade…
What do you think?
Please let me know…
Cheers,
Dave
Jack Wilshere is overhyped the same Joe Cole and Theo Walcott have been overhyped, or even Bentley. Bentley was supposed to be the next Dennis Bergkamp and look at hois career. The fact that none of the big 4 went for him and that none of the big foreign team shows that according to the main coaches he has found his level: good but not great. Being English and show a glimpse of talent does not mean that you will be world class player.
Yes, technically Jack Wilshere has nothing to learn against opponent of his age, however he is not yet ready for the premiership.
I have rewatched the game and not a single one of his reverse passes reached their intended target. He was often bullied into losing the ball. Yes he drew some freekicks, but in the premiership most of those challenges would have been valid one.
Against a second tier German team, he did try to make those reverse pass or to pass his opponent, but he was largely unsuccessful.
Against Juventus and Real Madrid who are less physical team, he may cope better but against large mean premiserhip defender he would be battered.
Be part of the team at the Emirates does not mean that he would be part of the first team. Last year Kieran Gibbs played against Inter, but he did not feature in the premiership.
The problem that jack Wilshere is facing is that he is too good for the U16, U18 and the reserve but not physically developped and ready for the weekly hurbly burly of the premiership. Ironically his best chance may be the Champion’s league. If Arsenal is already qualified after the first four game of the group stage, AW is likely to field a reserve teams for the remainign games.
One solution would be loan him gto Salamanca. He would learn to play in a proper ‘results matter’ kind of environment, but would not be subject to the sickening violence of the English lower league.
The thing that worries me if the fact that Theo Walcott has not added any brain and guile to his game. Compare him with Vela and he looks like the debutante.
http://fotbolti.net/fullStory.php?action=viewStory&id=64900
Kolbeinn Sigþórsson, the Icelandic striker who has been followed by Arsenal, has signed a new four year deal with AZ Alkmaar. So if Wenger still has any interest in him, he will have to pay a large sum for him.
I think Wilshere’s being a bit overhyped, the full back tends to get the better of him a lot and he just cuts inside and passses the ball back. He wasn’t particularly impressive against Stuttgart but had a lot of time to take his goal thanks to Clichy, although he is obviously a fantastic prospect.
I wanna see the like of Merida, Barazite and Nordtveit against Juve today and more established players tomorrow.
Theo still lacks end product a bit; his crossing is not very good (he never crosses in the air and doesn’t get much elevation on the ball) and tends to get past the full back, into the penalty area and cross it in for Adebayor/Van Persie but more often than not the centre back is covering.
well i think this dude is reily good could he break into the 1st team we duno yet i hope he dose because hes getting better each time he plays i think he will be in the england team by the age of 17 or 18 hes just growing into the player arsene wants i think he is the missing piece of arsenal all we mainly need is a new defender i think or bring in some one els from youth some teams in prem plame us for far landed players well let hope jack proves them wrong but tbh forgin players make the premire league its a fact look at the top 4 teams yha all in the last few years got to champions league that shows that we are growing
Wow, Wilshire to play. Didnt expect that one…
Well im rly lookin forward to this now. Bit pissed off that ATVO cnt show the game live considering its called The Emirates cup, beign held at our stadium, being played by us and teams invited by us. But nvm, im sure i can find a stream somewhere else.
Wilshere, Ramsey, Bendtner, gibbs and Vela all start against juve.
BTW, if ny1 cant get to the match or watch the match live on TV or online, then u can use this site:
http://www.bet365.com/
Free to sign up, dnt have to give any credit card details and u can watch all the matches completely free, and its completly legal aswell! Not that im bothered about that but i know some are…
Or.
http://www.justin.tv/live24 For the Real Madrid match
http://www.justin.tv/mstv_2 For the Arsenal match
whats the starting line up and becnh today please?
who has seen the lineup? post it
Good point eric why is barry’s pic posted on arsenal.com? Esp when yenger said he not mentioning names lol. Do they know something we dont?
Oh and anywhere i can follow text commentary for the matches..my broadband is down
Starting line up
fabianski
eboue senderos djourou jhoyte
wilshere denilson ramsey gibbs
vela bendtner
weres merida simpson and barazite
Vela captain :D
Oh no sorry for that Senderos is captain :P
Wilshire number 55 :D
Hahahaha what a tackle by Wilshire 16 on Nedved 35
weres barazite and merida and simpson
Gunners fans can watch the Arsenal v Juventus match at http://www.goalcentre.com
Enjoy
Eh. Goal was offside, but we only have ourselves to blame. Started well, lost the velocity a bit later on, not taking enough shots. Eboue needs to learn to make the easy pass instead of trying to take on two men and then make a throu ball EVERY time he gets it.
Hopefully we’ll come out next half and start shooting instead of over doing the build-ups like we are atm.
anyone else think that their goal was offside?? or am i not really paying attention?
“anyone else think that their goal was offside?? or am i not really paying attention?”
It was 90% offside. Only thing that might have let it off if there was a deflection, but i ddint see one.
Wilshire has looked very comfortable which is a plus and Ramsey nd Denilson are doin well in the middle. Denilson especially is impressing, putting in some good tackles.
were is merida
is it me or does eboue never produce an end prdoduct FFS
Today, Joe Cole should be better than he actually is. He was over-hyped. Jack is a better prospect. He has an aggressive nature to his game. Joe Cole would pussy-foot about a lot. Great skill he had but didnt have the bottle like Jack does. He has now but Jack can surpass Joe Cole if he keeps his feet firmly on the ground. Something AW will make sure of.
TJ said this on August 2, 2008 at 10:36 am
—
Cole’s development was halted terribly by injuries though. Like Rosicky in many respects, terrific talent but can’t get a decent run of games to prove how good he can be.
Wilshere looks good but bloody hell people are going crazy. Ramsey and Merida are presumably closer and presumably Traore considering how he was blooded in at the end of the last season.
Regarding the game: Neither Henry’s boot cleaner nor the linesman know the offside rule and we are 1-0 down. The team have not put a foot wrong but lack creativity. Eboue is starting to annoy me already, there was one opportunity he could have played an easy ball to someone (fuzzy feed) running out the way of defenders but put it to Vela (I think) on the edge of the area with three surrounding him. If it wasn’t pre-season, I’d be going mental.
Merida might be on the bench. Or not. Dunno.
Good job Wilshire!!
With all this Wilshire talk, anyone think Merida will get a chance this year?
Lansbury got a mohican. Looks way better than it used to be, but that’s not hard to do. Hopefully he spikes it proper goth styly and pokes out the eyes of Ronaldo or Drogba. :)
100% offside goal Mav!
Merida and Barazite or not on the bench, Lansbury and Randall are!
wow , thats a bit shocking moushin , i think they must be gettin frustrated
I assume Bara isn’t there because of the loan and because we already 6 strikers (inc. Walcott and Eduardo). Dunno about Merida, tomorrow maybe.
A question for J: With Gibbs at lb and Traore playing at lm a lot more, is there anything to read into it?
No. 14 Thierry Walcott, Nasri and Sagna on for Hoyte, Eboue and Wilshere.
the squads the same for to 2 todays i remenber from last season
Samuel I hope Wenger will never play Eboué on the right wing I can’t take it anymore!!!
Frank must be a good reason for that, probably a loan I spoke to Barazite’s brother and he said it’s a good possibilty!
i think barazite must not feel appreciated , wernt in last season first team pre season while randall was , and this season has been shut off …Im shocked for me lansbury has done nothing all pre season with fab , denilson and diaby ramsey and merida i cant see how anyone can break through apart from wilshere and any youngster which posses that much talent..i say lansbury should go and randall ,,gibbs possibly
il be shocked if they play in the huddesfield game
Was on the phone for the past twenty minutes, I miss anything?
Bendtner really is fucking Shit lazy slow useless donkey and people where saying he is better than adebayor you must be joking
Bendtner really is fucking Shit lazy slow useless donkey and people where saying he is better than adebayor you must be joking