Arsenal news: Jack Wilshere hits back at Jamie Redknapp after claiming his career at the Emirates is over

Redknapp claimed Wilshere needs to leave Arsenal permanently, but the Arsenal midfielder has thrown out the former Spirs midfielder's suggestion

Jack Wilshere has dismissed Jamie Redknapp's claim that his Arsenal career is over (Getty )

Jack Wilshere has wasted little time in hitting back at Jamie Redknapp after he claimed the England international needs to leave Arsenal because his career there is over.

Wilshere is spending the 2016/17 season on loan with Bournemouth in an attempt to return to regular first-team action after three injury-hit years with Arsenal. Both Wilshere and his Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, have stressed that he remains in the long-term plan at the Emirates Stadium.

Wilshere made his first 90-minute appearance since September 2014 in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham, and he took the opportunity to speak after the match to question where Redknapp’s bold claim had originated from.

“I don’t know where he got that from,” Wilshere said. “I’m just trying to get back to what I was, enjoying my football and playing week-in, week-out and today was a massive step towards that.

“I’ve not really thought about that so how other people can comment on it...

“If he doesn’t see me going back to Arsenal then that’s up to him. He’s entitled to his opinion but I haven’t thought about that.”

Wilshere didn’t completely disagree with the former Tottenham midfielder though. Part of Redknapp’s claim was that Wilshere needs to get out of his comfort zone, which would require leaving Arsenal for another club that, in his words, are bigger than Bournemouth.

While Wilshere accepted that putting himself in new surroundings would be beneficial, he stressed that he is already doing that with his loan spell on the South Coast where he is having to fight for certain things that are a given at Arsenal.

“Yeah I would agree with that,” Wilshere added. “Sometimes when you’re at a top club and you’ve been at a top club your whole career and you’re playing week in week out it is easy to get into that comfort zone.


 Wilshere made his first 90-minute appearance in over two years on Saturday 
 (Getty)

“For me to come down here and taste a different side of the Premier League where you have to fight for everything, fight for every point and work as a team, it is definitely out of my comfort zone.”

Part of Wilshere’s reasoning to leave Arsenal for the season was Sam Allardyce’s decision to leave him out of his first England squad in August, but the 24-year-old insists his focus is on continuing to feature regularly and not on forcing his way back into Gareth Southgate’s plans – with the caretaker England manager at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday to see Wilshere first hand.

Redknapp believes Wilshere needs to leave Arsenal for the good of his career (Getty)

Asked if regaining his England place was a motivation, Wilshere answered: “No, not really.

“I have got to concentrate on myself, playing here, playing 90 minutes and getting back to my best and then I can start thinking about that.”

He added that he is yet to speak with Southgate since he replaced Allardyce last month.