West Ham target February return for Jack Wilshere following fears his season was already over with injury

Wilshere has played just five times for West Ham this season after joining them in the summer

Andy Sims
Saturday 19 January 2019 12:54 GMT
Comments
West Ham: A look back at 2018

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Jack Wilshere could be back in action for West Ham as early as the start of next month.

There were fears the former England midfielder would miss the rest of the season, with the club struggling to get to the bottom of his latest ankle problem.

Wilshere missed 11 games before December after requiring minor surgery on his left ankle, and following a brief cameo as a substitute against Newcastle the 26-year-old felt pain his right ankle.

Wilshere has been resting the joint ever since, sitting out another nine matches, and he will be absent again on Saturday when West Ham travel to Bournemouth, where he had a loan spell two seasons ago.

But manager Manuel Pellegrini revealed the ex-Arsenal midfielder, whose career has been peppered by spells out injured, is close to beginning his latest comeback.

"He is continuing with his six weeks of rest about his ankle," said Pellegrini.

"He is in treatment and I hope that next week maybe he can start doing some running on the treadmill.

"He will be ready at the beginning of February."

West Ham have been linked with a January move for Bournemouth striker Callum Wilson should they lose Marko Arnautovic to China.

West Ham could lose their star player
West Ham could lose their star player (Getty)

Shanghai SIPG want to sign Arnautovic but have had a £35m offer for the Austria forward rejected.

Arnautovic wants to make the move this month but Pellegrini will only sanction the deal if he can bring in a replacement.

However, the Chilean remained coy over a potential move for Wilson, who made his England debut against the United States in November.

"He's a very good striker but the rumours we want him are not true," said Pellegrini.

"We have our players. We have Javier Hernandez, we have Lucas Perez, we have Andy Carroll, we have Marko Arnautovic in our squad. I'm happy with all these players.

"If we don't have Arnautovic? Things can happen, when they happen we'll see."

PA

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in