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[Photos] First pictures of Jack Wilshere training in Arsenal kit at London Colney

By on October 7, 2021

The club have confirmed that Jack Wilshere is back training with Arsenal at London Colney in order to help maintain his fitness as he looks for a new club.

Wilshere has been without a club since leaving Bournemouth in the summer having made just 14 appearances for the south coasters. His spell at Bournemouth came after another unsuccessful two-year stay at West Ham which saw Jack make just 16 appearances.

It’s safe to say that Wilshere has struggled to recapture his best form since leaving Arsenal in 2018 with injuries and fitness issues continuing to plague the talented midfielder.

The 29-year-old said last month that he would love to return to his boyhood club to train and maintain his fitness and Mikel Arteta opened the door after publicly stating he would speak with his former team-mate.

Those conversations have proven successful as Arsenal have confirmed today that Wilshere is back training with the club at London Colney.

Obviously this will lead to speculation that he may be offered some sort of pay-per-play deal. However, Arteta insists they are just helping Wilshere maintain his fitness as he looks for a new club and works on his coaching badges.

Arteta told Arsenal.com:

“What you should believe is that we want to help Jack prepare for his next stage, physically, mentally,”

“He wants to do his coaching badges again and we are prepared to fulfil all the needs that he wants. That is basically the idea and it is no further than that.

“I am very happy to have him back. We had a conversation with Jack and understand the needs that he has, the period that he is going through and I think everyone at the club agreed it was the right moment to help him.

“We sat down with him and we listened to what he wanted to do and what stage he is and we are prepared to do anything we can to help him.

“He is going to be training sometimes with us, he is going to be around the place, he is going to be continuing his coaching badges that he is very interested in, try to get him fit, try to get his experiences across to our players, our young players, our academy and I think it is great influence to have around.”

It’s great to see Arsenal offering Wilshere help when he needs it and no doubt he’ll be a positive influence to have around our young squad but I’m relieved Arteta has ruled out any sort of playing deal.

Jack’s best years are behind him and it looks like he’s focussed on getting his coaching badges. It seems he’ll mainly train with the U23’s and only occasionally join in with the first team squad, with the agreement initially running until the end of January.

Here are some further pictures curtsey of Arsenal.com: