Jack Wilshere has now named the one former Arsenal player who he saw as a guiding light in his playing days at the Emirates Stadium.
Jack Wilshere shared a dressing room with some true Arsenal icons in his career.
When he first burst onto the scene as a 16-year-old, the midfielder was brought into Arsene Wenger’s first-team squad, which then featured the likes of Bacary Sagna, Alex Song, Samir Nasri, Robin Van Persie, Andrey Arshavin, and Tomas Rosicky, amongst others.
Cesc Fabregas was the Arsenal captain at that time.
The Spanish midfielder had previously been the youngest player ever to represent the Gunners in the Premier League, before Wilshere took that title for himself. That record has since been eclipsed by Ethan Nwaneri, who was handed his senior debut by Mikel Arteta in 2022, when he was still just 15-years-old. Nwaneri has been likened to Wilshere in terms of his style of play.
Jack Wilshere lifts lid on time with Cesc Fabregas at Arsenal
Wilshere has now opened up about the role Fabregas played in driving him on to achieve his own success at Arsenal. He has also provided an insight into how the Spanish midfield maestro operated in his role as captain in the Arsenal dressing room.
Speaking on the Up Front with Simon Jordan podcast, the 34-cap former England international said, “the perfect reference for me was Cesc…I was twelve at Hale End, trying to find my way, and he was 16 playing in the team. Arsene was important for shaping my mentality, but also the coaches there…it was like, ‘you’re twelve, you’ve got four years to get where Cesc is. We believe in you. How are you going to get there?’…Just Cesc being in the team, and seeing Arsene play him in the big games…it inspired me.”
“Cesc was really good for me…Cesc left after my first year [in the first-team]…that’s one of my biggest regrets, is not playing with him. But he would lead, he was not afraid to hold people accountable, he would stick it on people and challenge them.”
The importance of an Arsenal captain
Martin Odegaard currently wears the captain’s armband for Arsenal. The role of the skipper in football has changed over the years, though, the time of all Premier League captains being enforcers with an intimidating edge has largely passed. Patrick Vieira and Tony Adams both fit into this mould when they had the honour of leading the team. The Norwegian playmaker is an altogether different kind of captain, but equally influential.
Odegaard has been described as the “perfect” modern captain for Arsenal. He leads by example, and is almost a second coach for Arteta on the pitch. He takes tactical responsibility for triggering and leading the Arsenal press, and sets an example with his work rate, as he runs relentlessly, week in, week out, from the first whistle to the last.
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