Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has no regrets of sending Jack Wilshere out on a season-long loan deal to Bournemouth
The Gunners boss allowed the injury prone player to leave the Emirates, but now only has two fit central midfielders at his disposal
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ARSENE WENGER has defended his decision to let Jack Wilshere spend the entire season away from Arsenal…even if he doesn’t understand the loan rules.
Wenger failed to insist on a recall clause when he sent Wilshere to Bournemouth at the end of the last transfer window.
And he clearly wasn’t aware that could have had his England star back at the Emirates by now after proving his fitness over the last four months on the South Coast.
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Asked why Arsenal did not loan Wilshere out until January 1, Wenger replied: “In the Premier League, it is season-long loans.”
But the Frenchman has clearly missed a trick because Premier League rules allow loan deals to run over the course of just one transfer window.
And how Wenger could have done with Wilshere’s presence to help Arsenal through their current midfield crisis.
Francis Coquelin is out for at least a month after suffering a torn hamstring in Tuesday’s 3-3 draw at Bournemouth and Santi Cazorla is still two months away from returning from an ankle operation.
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And with Mohammed Elneny away at the African Cup of Nations, that leaves Granit Xhaka and the injury-prone Aaron Ramsey as Wenger’s only two central midfielders for a key period of the season.
Yet Wenger still stands by his decision to allow Wilshere to spend the season at Bournemouth, where he has been a first team regular since recovering from the ankle injury which ruled him out for most of last season.
“Yes, I could use Jack now but I still think it was the right decision for him to go,” Wenger says.
“What looks unfair at the moment is that you know at some stage of the season you could need the player.
“But at the start of the season you need to have the right balance between competition, numbers and chances for the player to play.
“And if Jack had not played until now, he would not be ready to play now.”
Now Wenger is hoping that Xhaka has learned his lesson after conceding another soft penalty in Tuesday’s 3-3 draw at Bournemouth.
The reckless Swiss international is still struggling to justify his £30million transfer fee and has no margin for error in today’s tricky FA Cup third round trip to Preston.
“Xhaka has conceded a few penalties and I agree he has to stop that,” Wenger says.
“I think he was unlucky on both occasions against Stoke and Bournemouth but he has to adapt and to correct that.
“But you can see that he is not a dirty player and overall I am quite happy with his defensive evolution.
“He is less spectacular in his tackling now and stays on his feet more.
“He uses his body better to win the challenges and his recovery runs are stronger when the ball goes behind him.
“Before he was a little bit in the moon. Now he is much more focussed defensively. He has improved a lot on that front.”
TEAM NEWS: Arsene Wenger will rest Alexis Sanchez, Laurent Koscielny and Petr Cech. Francis Coquelin is ruled out by a hamstring injury while Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott are still missing. Danny Welbeck will only make his first appearance of the season if Lucas Perez fails to recover from an ankle injury.
LIKELY LINE-UP (4-2-3-1): Ospina; Bellerin, Mustafi, Gabriel, Monreal; Ramsey, Xhaka; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Iwobi, Perez; Giroud