Can Jack Wilshere fulfil his potential?

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At the age of 16 Jack Wilshere made his Arsenal first team debut which made him Arsenal’s youngest debutant, and impressed instantly.

He made his England debut aged 18 and has won the PFA young player of the year. Many were calling him “England’s saviour” and were predicting that he would become Arsenal and England captain one day, which is of course still possible. However, over the past few years Wilshere has been unable to stay fit for a lengthy time period which has had a clear impact on his development.

Now aged 23, Wilshere is still struggling to nail down a place in Arsenal’s starting 11 with the likes of Ramsey, Ozil and Cazorla ahead of him. From the start of 2010 Wilshere has had 21 injuries which has meant he has been in and out of the Arsenal team; with such a poor injury record how much of a future does the midfielder have?

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has insisted that Jack Wilshere has the ability to become a top class player, and we do not doubt this for a moment after his last performance for England in which he scored two impressive goals against Slovenia and was outstanding, but it is not his ability that is the problem.

Not only does he have an appalling injury record, he also seems to get into some sort of trouble every season. Most recently he has been charged by the FA for leading anti-Tottenham chants during Arsenal’s FA Cup celebrations and has also been caught smoking on 2 occasions.

If Wilshere is to fulfil his potential and become the player we all expect him to be then he certainly needs to stay fit for at least five or six months to give himself time to break into the starting 11 for Arsenal and, most importantly, stay out of trouble. If he is able to do this, then I fully expect to see Wilshere featuring for Arsenal and England at the heart of midfield and possibly captaining both one day.