Jack Wilshere

Jack Andrew Garry Wilshere (born 1 January 1992) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Arsenal and the England national team.

Wilshere came up through Arsenal's youth academy and impressed from an early age. He made his first team debut in 2008, at the age of 16, and was Arsenal's youngest ever league debutante. In his short career thus far Wilshere has earned a number of accolades including the PFA Young Player of the Year, PFA Team of the Year, and Arsenal's Player of the Season as voted on by the fans for his performances in his first full campaign for Arsenal during the 2010–11 season.

Early Life

Wilshere was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire and currently lives in Hitchin, where he grew up, attending Whitehill Primary School and The Priory School He captained The Priory School Football team to County Cup and District Cup glory from Year 7 through to Year 10, and also added the Under 15s National Cup to his list in Year 8, playing alongside Leyton Orient's Jake Argent-Martin and Jack Reeves.

Club Career

Wilshere joined the Arsenal Academy in October 2001 at the age of nine, after a short spell in the Luton Town youth programme. He rose through the ranks, and at the age of 15 was named the captain of the under-16s; he also made a few appearances for the Under-18s. In the summer of 2007 Wilshere featured in the Champions Youth Cup and upon his return to England, Arsenal Academy coach Steve Bould gave him a start for the Under-18s first game against the Chelsea Under-18 team. He scored his first goal against Aston Villa Under-18s in a 4–1 win. He then scored a hat-trick against Watford Under-18s, helping his side to an Academy Group A title. He finished his first full season with the Under-18s with 13 goals in 18 appearances, most of which coming at age 15.

In February 2008, he made his debut for Arsenal Reserves aged 16 against Reading, and scored Arsenal's only goal of the match, which ended in a draw. He scored a memorable goal against West Ham reserves in March, picking the ball up and curling a shot into the top corner under the watching eye of Arsene Wenger. He managed to record 2 goals and 2 assists in just 3 appearances for the reserves at the end of the 2007–08 season. He played in the Under-16s victory in the Atalanta Cup, being named as player of the tournament.He played an important role in Arsenal's 2009 FA Youth Cup win, scoring goals in the semi final and producing a man-of-the-match display in the first leg of the final against Liverpool, assisting two goals and scoring himself.

The 2010–11 football season was a year of breakthrough for Wilshere. On 15 August 2010, he made his first start in the Premier League for Arsenal against Liverpool at Anfield. He followed that up with another start the next weekend against Blackpool contributing with an assist. On 15 September, Wilshere started his first Champions League game of the season providing an assist. Wilshere was named Arsenal's Player of The Month for September 2010. On 16 October, Wilshere received his first straight red card in first-team football in a Premier League match against Birmingham City for a challenge on Nikola Žigić. On 19 October, Wilshere scored his first Champions League goal with a chip over Andriy Pyatov at the Emirates Stadium for Arsenal in a 5–1 thrashing of Shakhtar Donetsk in the group stage. On 1 November, it was announced that Wilshere had signed a new long-term contract. On 27 November, Wilshere scored his first Premier League goal for Arsenal in a 4–2 win at Aston Villa. Wilshere was praised for his highly influential display against Barcelona in Arsenal's 2–1 victory, he completed 93.5% of his passes overall and 91% of his passes in the final third of the pitch. Manager Arsene Wenger described his performance as "outstanding". In April 2011, Wilshere won the PFA Young Player of the Year award, and was also named in the PFA Team of the Year for the 2010–11 season, along with Arsenal team-mates Samir Nasri and Bacary Sagna. In his breakthrough season he was also voted Arsenal's Player of the Season, ahead of the likes of van Persie and Nasri. During the summer leading into the 2011-12 Season Wilshere suffered a stress fracture ankle injury while on national team duty. The injury proved a persistent problem throughout Arsenal's preseason and on 23 September 2011 it was reported that Wilshere would undergo surgery to repair the fracture. On 26 September, Arsenal announced that Wilshere had undergone successful surgery and would be out for four to five months.

Style Of Play

Wilshere is a player known for his movement, aggression, dribbling, vision, passing and combination play.More recently, Owen Coyle, manager of Bolton during Wilshere's loan spell, praised his ability to "tackle and take a knock", despite his lack of height. He has been compared to Paul Gascoigne for his attributes as an all-round midfielder. However, Arsenal head of youth development Liam Brady noted that Wilshere had problems with his temper early on in his career.
Wilshere has been used in a number of positions, including attacking midfielder, winger, and most recently deep-lying central midfielder, where he has played in all but one of Arsenal's matches during the 2010–11 season. In Wenger's words: 'He's a box-to-box player, more than just a holding midfielder.

International Career

Since 2006, the England national football team have decided to play Wilshere in an age group above his age. Wilshere was just 14 when he played for the England national under-16 football team at the Victory Shield in 2006. At the age of 15, he began playing for the England national under-17 football team. He was then named in the squad for the 2009 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship in May, starting the first two games, particularly impressing in the 2nd game against Germany before going off with an injury which kept him out of the final game. After the tournament, he was named among the 10 future stars from the tournament.
He has also been praised by England manager Fabio Capello, who indicated there was a chance that he would include the young midfielder in his 2010 FIFA World Cup squad, though this did not happen. He also came on as substitute for his England U-21 debut against the Netherlands.
On 7 August 2010, Wilshere was called up to the Senior squad for the first time for their friendly against Hungary on 11 August. He made his England debut on 11 August 2010, coming on as a 83rd minute substitute for Steven Gerrard against Hungary. This made him the 10th youngest player ever to play for the English national team.
On 9 February 2011 he made his full England debut when he started in a friendly against Denmark. He impressed despite playing in an unfamiliar role just in front of the defence and was praised by Fabio Capello.