Wilshere ready to quit Arsenal to revive World Cup dream

Unwanted by England and under-valued at Arsenal, Jack Wilshere’s career has hit the buffers in recent seasons and that could lead the 25-year-old midfielder to quit the Emirates in the new year.

The Daily Mirror says that Wilshere fears his chances of playing in next year’s World Cup are diminishing with every week he remains on the Arsenal bench. Omitted from the squad for tonight’s England game against Germany, the playmaker “is desperate to play for Arsenal”. But so far he has failed to convince Arsene Wenger that he warrants a regular place in the starting line-up and consequently he is looking at his options.

The Mirror says there is interest from West Ham, Swansea and Spanish side Real Betis, but The Sun claims Crystal Palace might make a move for Wilshere in January. Apparently Roy Hodgson, now in charge of the Eagles, remains a fan of the midfielder, having selected him several times when he managed England.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Hodgson believes Wilshere “has the creative quality his side needs to climb out of the bottom three in the Premier League”, and he’s also cautiously optimistic that the prospect of playing regularly at Selhurst Park could persuade the 25-year-old to give it a go. With Hodgson’s successor, Gareth Southgate, stating that he can’t consider Wilshere because of his lack of game time, such a move would make sense.

Meanwhile, Caughtoffside has been reading Spanish paper Marca and claims that Arsenal have “made an initial approach over sealing the transfer of Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga”.

The bad news is that they face competition from Real Madrid and Juventus, both of which are likely to look more attractive to a young keeper of Arrizabalaga’s quality than struggling Arsenal. The 23-year-old Bilbao gloveman is wanted by Wenger to replace the ageing Petr Cech and the Gunners boss has allegedly put out feelers. Marca, however, believes that Real Madrid are in the box seat to land Arrizabalaga and they could even trigger his £15m release clause in January.

That in turn could improve Manchester United’s chances of holding on to current No.1 David de Gea, whom Real Madrid have been chasing for the past two years, according to The Sun.