Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere will be a free agent at the end of the season and Dennis Wise wants his former club, Chelsea, to sign him.
Former Chelsea captain Dennis Wise has urged the club to make an attempt to sign England international Jack Wilshere at the end of the season, as per a report from Sky Sports.
Wilshere is in the final year of his contract with Arsenal and as revealed by the Gunners’ manager Arsene Wenger earlier this week, the 26-year old’s future is still far from certain as he is yet to ink the deal that the club have offered him. And Wise has advised his former employers to capitalize on the situation and sign the midfielder in the summer.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the former England international said: “If Chelsea needed a midfield player I would definitely take Jack Wilshere. He’s free, he’s 26 years old and he’s proved he’s come back to full fitness.”
Wise then went on to claim that Wilshere would be a much better option than some of the players that the Blues currently have at their disposal, namely Danny Drinkwater and Tiemoue Bakayoko.
Chelsea invested heavily in the last summer to land Bakayoko from AS Monaco and Drinkwater from Leicester City, having sold Nemanja Matic to rivals Manchester United. But, both the summer signings have been extremely disappointing since moving to the Stamford Bridge.
On the other hand, Wilshere, whose career has been marred by injuries one after the other, has impressed in the middle of the park for the Gunners in the ongoing season, having spent the last term away on loan with Bournemouth. The 26-year old has made 37 appearances across all competitions for Arsenal, scoring twice and assisting five more.
“You see the money they’ve paid for Danny Drinkwater and Tiemoue Bakayoko and I think he’s better than them. At 23, what would you have paid for him? £40 million? Would I play him in the Chelsea team now? Yes, I would,” Wise said.
“He has proved himself over the last year what he’s capable of. He’s got himself back to playing top football. Everyone was writing him off 18 months ago, but he has shut them all up,” he went on to add.
Once regarded as the future of English football, Wilshere had been tipped for greatness, but serious injuries throughout his career have hampered his growth. However, the England international seems to have turned things around this season. Wilshere is fit again, has shown the desire and the hunger to succeed and has displayed that he still has the qualities that made him a special talent.
This upturn of form coupled with the fact that he will be available on a free at the end of the season has made Wilshere quite an attractive prospect in the transfer market.
Serie A champions Juventus have been credited with an interest in the 26-year old, while newly promoted club Wolverhampton Wanderers are also interested. Everton too are understood to be monitoring the midfielder’s situation. It remains to be seen if Chelsea decide to act on Wise’s advice and consider making a move for him.
With seemingly no shortage of suitors for Wilshere, Arsenal need to act quickly if they want to keep hold of their academy graduate beyond this season.
