Jack Wilshere impressed by Gareth Southgate’s plan for England future after coming in from the cold

’There’s more young players, there’s more of a group, I think, and there’s more of a plan towards the future,’ Wilshere said about Southgate’s squad

Jack Wilshere is back in the England squad (Getty)

Of course Jack Wilshere can still remember the first England squad he was involved in. It was August 2010, he was 18 years old and Fabio Capello wanted to freshen up a squad that had underperformed so disastrously at the World Cup in South Africa earlier that summer.

For a friendly against Hungary at Wembley, Wilshere came into the squad, and is still struck by the force of that first meeting with England’s Golden Generation. “I remember the first time I walked into an England squad, I went for dinner and there was Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and John Terry, big players I had watched growing up.”

Almost eight years on, the England squad is, in Wilshere’s words, “completely different”. There is no Golden Generation anymore and Wilshere, at 26, is one of the older outfield players. “It’s a different feel now,” he explained at St George’s Park this week. “There’s more young players, there’s more of a group, I think, and there’s more of a plan towards the future.”

There certainly is a clear sense of direction with Southgate and the younger generation: everyone knows that Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane will be in Southgate’s England team for years to come. But the roles of the senior players are not as clear. Wayne Rooney has retired, Gary Cahill and Chris Smalling have been dropped and Joe Hart’s England career is hanging by a thread.

So one of the biggest questions of this international weekend is what is Wilshere’s role in Southgate’s England team? He has not played for England since the infamous Iceland defeat at Euro 2016, nearly two years, when he came on for the second half, undercooked, as England failed to change the game. He was made it into Southgate’s England squad once before, in November 2016, for games against Scotland and Spain, but did not play.

When asked about Wilshere earlier this season, Southgate said that he could not see him playing in England’s front three, because of the pressing demands of the role, but would rather play him in central midfield instead. It has only been recently that Wilshere has started to play in central midfield again for Arsenal, a run back to form that helpfully coincides with England’s requirements in that position. With Eric Dier lined up for a move to centre-back, and Harry Winks working to shake off an ankle injury, there is now a space open for a player like Wilshere in this England team.

That is testament to Wilshere’s own hard work given what happened at the start of the season, when Wilshere’s Arsenal career looked to be finished. Wilshere still remembers that striking moment, training on the exercise bike at the Arsenal gym in August, when Arsene Wenger told him he was free to find a new club. After years of injuries and frustrations, and following last season on loan at Bournemouth, it could have been the sad end for him at the Emirates.

Wilshere has worked his way back into Arsene Wenger's plans (AFP/Getty Images)

“It was an honest conversation,” Wilshere remembered. “We have known each other long enough that we are honest with each other. He said, ‘I am going to be honest with you and at the moment we are not going to be offering you a contact, so if you can get a contract somewhere else, you can go.’ I decided I wanted to stay and build up my fitness. I always had confidence I could get back into the midfield if I got my fitness back and kept it – and I did that. I proved that I could get into that team.”

Wilshere has done exactly that: first in the Europa League and Carabao Cup, now in the Premier League. This has been his most consistent run for Arsenal for years, even if he does not have that same speed on the ball he used to. “I am a player who always wants to give more,” Wilshere said. “I should be scoring more goals. I am a little bit further back now but I want to be getting assists and getting more goals. Having said that, I am coming from a position where I have been told I can leave. My main target was getting in the team and staying there, I have done that.”

Although, as ever with Wilshere, the questions still linger. He has not signed a new deal with Arsenal yet, despite months of negotiations, and if he does not by the World Cup then he will be a free agent. He has not yet played for England under Southgate, and if he does not impress this month that will only increase calls for a rethink. Almost eight years on from his emergence, Wilshere has just 34 caps, and has still only been to two tournaments, only starting two tournament games: dismal 0-0 draws against Costa Rica in 2014 and Slovakia in 2016.

Jack Wilshere on his England debut, in 2010 (Getty)

Wilshere accepts that he has not achieved as much as was first hoped when he was scurrying around the Arsenal midfield eight years ago. But he hopes that with the maturity from those setbacks, he can learn and improve like never before.

“I feel I’m at a place in my career and in my life where I have accepted the past has happened,” he said. “Now I’m just focused on the future and improving myself. I know my body better than I have ever done. I know what to do with it and how to get the best out of it so I’m just focused on that.

“I’ve always said I love representing my country, it’s something that I’ve missed. But I never gave up. I never gave hope that I could do it again.”