OPINION
Regular Sky Sports pundit Craig Bellamy said recently that he was deeply concerned about West Ham signing Jack Wilshere, but he couldn’t be more wrong about this.
Talking in the Daily Star he said: “Like everyone, I’m always concerned with his injuries, I really feel for him.
“I think there must be a problem there somewhere and I’m petrified that West Ham don’t have a great record with injured players.”
Bellamy did say that if he could keep fit West Ham would have a brilliant player on their hands, but we think too much has been made of Wilshere’s fitness.
It’s true that he’s suffered through the years and his previous injuries have probably stopped him from going on and achieving what everyone expected him to do, with Arsene Wenger even comparing him to Messi.
Let’s look at the stats over the past couple of seasons.
Wilshere played a fine season with Bournemouth in 16/17 and was unlucky to miss the last five league games of the season with a hairline fracture.
He then played for Arsenal in 17/18 and proved he could go a whole season in the top-flight.
Arsenal didn’t necessarily want to lose him and were happy to keep him on as a squad player, but Wilshere still has things to prove, both to himself and to Arsenal – he’s only 26 after all.
Wilshere wants to prove that Arsenal were wrong not to make him a valuable member of their first-team and we think he’s going to be the key signing for West Ham this summer.
The medical would have been exacting and thorough and he obviously passed that with flying colours.
It’s time to stop talking about his fitness problems and start talking about his quality again. Next season will prove this.
