Former Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere has now revealed what Unai Emery said to him just before he left the Emirates Stadium.
Jack Wilshere left Arsenal in the summer of 2018.
The midfielder first joined the north London club at academy level in 2001, when he was just 9-years-old. In 2008, he first broke into the first-team, and quickly established himself as an incredibly exciting prospect.
Then-academy director Liam Brady pushed Wilshere hard in his time at Hale End, as it was clear that the youngster was something special. Unfortunately, though, injuries derailed the 34-cap former England international’s career.
In 2018, after having made just 197 appearances due recurrent fitness issues, Wilshere left Arsenal after a decade in the senior side.
Why did Jack Wilshere decide to leave Arsenal?
There was a contract offer on the table to the player, but after Arsene Wenger’s departure and Unai Emery’s appointment at the Emirates Stadium, Wilshere decided it was time to move on.
Wilshere has now opened up about a conversation he had with Emery, shortly after the Spanish coach’s appointment. Speaking on the Up Front with Simon Jordan podcast, the 32-year-old said, “how it went was, I got back into the team, had a really good season and then they offered me a new deal. Now that deal was heavily based around appearances…by this point, Arsene had told us as a group that he’s leaving…this deal is only a good deal if you play, and I don’t know who the manager is going to be, so I waited…he [Emery] arrived, day one, I had a meeting with him and I appreciated his honesty. He actually said I had to go somewhere where I’m relevant. I think it was a little bit lost in translation, but it was a clear message. Was it hard to leave? No, because of that.”
What is Jack Wilshere doing now?
Wilshere is now back at Arsenal. He is the manager of the club’s under-18s side, and his helping to prepare the next generation of youthful talents to make the step up to Mikel Arteta’s first team squad. Having completed that journey himself relatively recently, the youngsters currently in the club’s academy certainly stand to benefit from the coach’s experience.
However, he may well be keen to move on from the Emirates Stadium again relatively soon. Wilshere recently applied for the manager job at Aberdeen. Whilst he didn’t get the gig with the Scottish club, he is clearly keen to take the next step up on the coaching ladder and secure the top job for himself somewhere.
Wilshere likely feels as though he has unfinished business in football, as his injury woes forced him into retirement in 2022 when he was just 30-years-old. He will be hoping to make up for some of that lost time from a dugout somewhere soon.