By Ewah Chika.

One of the breaking news of this summer's transfer deadline was the loan signing of Arsenal and Three Lions midfielder Jack Wilshere by Bournemouth for £3 million. It can be said that Bournemouth have made a statement with Wilshere's signing considering the Englishman had more than 22 offers from different clubs on deadline day with the likes of Roma, AC Milan and Crystal Palace linked with him before he opted to move to the South Coast to link up with childhood friend Benik Afobe who was also formerly at Arsenal.

By his signing, Wilshere becomes the biggest signing in Bournemouth's history, even though Eddie Howie's side will part with £80,000 weekly for his wages. Once touted as the future of Arsenal, Wilshere's career has gone from grace to grass after his career threatening ankle injury in 2011 which made him miss the whole 2011/2012 season as a result of the injury.

"Jack Wilshere doesn't play the English way. I see Wilshere as the future of English football. If he had a career that had been injury-free we would already be talking about him as one of the top central midfield players in Europe,"
were the words of World Cup winning and former Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez on Jack Wilshere. It did not end there as the Englishman was described as one who had a Spanish technique with an English heart by his manager Arsene Wenger. This is because unlike most English players who rely on their pace and physical strength, Wilshere is blessed with long range passing , vision well as the top notch tackling and dribbling technique.

The Englishman is sure to shine at the Vitality Stadium just like he did during his loan spell in Bolton, provided he avoids injury and maintains fitness. This is because Wilshere's injury record is so bad that he played only three Premier League games last season which was towards the end of the season. The midfielder's woes continued this season, as he missed three pre-season games against Chivas, Vking and Manchester City. To buttress further , Wilshere last played full 90 minutes of football in the first game of the 2014/2015 season.


The certainty that the midfielder will perform at the Vitality once fit is due to the fact that both Bournemouth and Arsenal share some striking similarities . Firstly, Wilshere will flourish provided Eddie Howe's team play to his strengths judging from their record of being the team that ran the furthest last season in the Premier League with Tottenham and Liverpool coming in at second and third respectively. High pressing energy football isn't the only similarity between Arsenal and Bournemouth as Eddie Howe's team also like bossing possession, which is illustrated by the stat that reveals that Bournemouth were the only team to finish in the bottom eight of the Premier League to average more possession than their opponents. It did not end there as Bournemouth also averaged 12.2 shots per game last season which was just three fewer than Wilshere's parent club (Arsenal).

At Arsenal, Wilshere (24-year-old) might be the heir apparent to Santi Cazorla who is already 31. This is judging from the stats of last season which shows that Wilshere averaged 3.67 dribbles in his only three games last season , which was shockingly more than Cazorla's 3.2, Mesut Ozil's 2.46 and Oxlade Alex Chamberlain's 2.68. On the other-hand , one area the English man will need to improve is his end product in the final third as stats show he only averaged 0.33 chances per game last season which is low compared to Santi Cazorla's 2.5, Mesut Ozil's 4.17 and Aaron Ramsey's 1.19, which clearly reveals the fact that the 24-year-old is still a work in progress.

Arsene Wenger will also be praying that Wilshere returns a better player next season so as to renew his contract which will have 12 months to run by the summer of 2017.

To succeed at Bournemouth and Arsenal, Wilshere will need to control his temper on and off the field. Failure to do this has seen the player arrested and cautioned severally by the police for spitting and assaulting a taxi driver who was spotting a Tottenham cap and for a night club fracas. Wilshere has also on several occasions been spotted smoking in public.

It is difficult to realise that Wilshere is still a youngster considering he made his Premier League debut aged 16, becoming Arsenal's youngest ever Premier League debutant till date.


Finally, It is not too late for the youngster to make it in the game as he has the talent and time to prove his critics wrong .

Source
Mailtelegraph..com or

http://mailtelegraph..com.ng/2016/09/spanish-technique-with-english-heart.html?m=1