32-year-old now admits he really regrets Arsenal exit, says he ‘should have’ stayed

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One former Arsenal star has now admitted that he regrets leaving the north London club when he did.

Jack Wilshere feels that be brought the curtain down on his playing career at Arsenal too early. 

The 32-year-old is now back at Arsenal, as he is now the manager of the club’s under-18s side in the Hale End academy system. The former midfielder is a product of the Gunners’ academy himself. Wilshere was pushed hard in the academy by then-coach and Arsenal icon Liam Brady.

As a player, he burst onto the scene at first-team level when he was still just 16-years-old. In the early days of his career, Wilshere looked destined to become an absolute superstar. However, injuries ultimately decimated what ought to have been the peak years of his career. In the end, after spells with West Ham United, Bournemouth, and Danish side AGF, he hung up his boots for good in 2022, aged just 30.

Jack Wilshere’s Arsenal legacy

There is no denying that Wilshere was an astonishingly talented player, and it is a crying shame that his body let him down so cruelly. He was still able to make 197 appearances for Arsenal across a ten-year stint in the first-team though, and he produced some magic moments that will live long in the memory. He remains a fan-favourite at the Emirates Stadium and also amassed 34 England caps in his career.

Wilshere has now thrown himself into his coaching role and is ready to take on this new stage of his career. His role is now to cultivate the next generation of Arsenal stars who can take the football world by storm as part of Mikel Arteta’s first-team. Teenage gem Ethan Nwaneri has been compared to Wilshere in terms of his style of play.

Wilshere left Arsenal on a permanent basis in the summer of 2018, just after Unai Emery’s appointment at the Emirates Stadium, after the departure of the long-serving Arsene Wenger. 

Should Jack Wilshere have stayed at Arsenal?

Emery made it clear that Wilshere was not a central part of his plans, and as such, despite having a new contact offer on the table, the midfielder opted to leave Arsenal as a free agent.

Speaking on the Up Front with Simon Jordan podcast, Wilshere has now shed more light on how he came to this decision. He said, “Now, I look back and I should have signed the contract. But at that point, it just felt right. Time for a change. Arsene was leaving, the club was going in a different direction.”

Wilshere’s career never got back on track after he left Arsenal as his injury issues intensified. Perhaps, if he had remained in north London, things may have been different.