Craig Eastmond: 'Jack Wilshere will consider leaving Arsenal'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 17 February 2017

Ex-Arsenal midfielder Craig Eastmond insists that Jack Wilshere "could probably walk into any Premier League team", but is unsure whether he will stick with the Gunners.

Craig Eastmond has claimed that his former Arsenal youth-team teammate Jack Wilshere will spend time weighing up whether to leave the Emirates Stadium in the summer.

The England international has enjoyed a largely injury-free campaign on loan at Bournemouth this term, starting 18 Premier League games in all.

Wilshere's Arsenal future is currently uncertain, however, with the player - in the final 18 months of his contract - himself admitting that he is unsure whether a new deal will be offered.

Eastmond, who will line up against his former club next Monday for Sutton United in the fifth round of the FA Cup, believes that Wilshere has a tough decision to make come the end of the season.

"He's always going to be debating and he's got to think about his career," the Daily Star quotes him as saying. "Is he going to be playing? Is he going to be an unused sub? It depends what he wants to do. He could probably walk into any Premier League team but he must do what's best for him. No-one really wants to leave a club like Arsenal.

"If he's going to leave, he has to go somewhere where he will play week in, week out. He won't want to do the same thing he was going to be doing at Arsenal. There are still players injured at Arsenal, [Santi] Cazorla, [Aaron] Ramsey so it's hard to get into that midfield. He's been out for a long time and there are other players in front of him.

"He needed to get a run of games and he weren't getting that at Arsenal. The best idea was to go to another Premier League club because obviously he has the ability to get into any other first-team in the Premier League. He's got the ability to do anything. I think it was a good idea to get a run of games, get match fit and see what happens at the end of the season."

Wilshere is expected to be fit to face West Bromwich Albion next weekend despite an injury scare when limping off in Bournemouth's defeat to Manchester City.