OPINION
Another Premier League season has come to an end and West Ham finished the campaign with a thrilling 4-1 victory over Watford to finish in the top half of the table.
Plans for the summer now fully begin with West Ham captain Mark Noble confirming he expects five or six players to leave to make room for Manuel Pellegrini to improve his squad.
That will be bad news for most who have failed to make an impact all season, but not for the injury prone midfielder Jack Wilshere.
The England international will be relieved over his future with Pellegrini confirming before the game with Watford that he is still in the Chilean’s plans who believes the 27-year-old can improve his team in an attacking sense, boldly stating he is among the best in the country.
Pellegrini said in his pre match press conference as quoted by the Sun: “I think he is still one of the most talented players in England.
“I hope in the same way we did when we brought him that he can play one season and that will change everything. The more time Jack has the more attacking team we can be.”
It’s a massive risk to take on Wilshere who has only made eight league appearances this season, one of those off the bench against Watford on Sunday.
Only four of those have been starts and were at the beginning of the season after having another surgery through the campaign, this time on his ankle.
Both Mark Noble and Declan Rice have been in inspired form this campaign, and they will be two of the first names on the team sheet come next season.
There is no doubt that Wilshere has the talent to improve this West Ham side next season but it must take more than just a long summer of preparation for him to force his way back in to the side. Should Wilshere not turn up fit and ready to play a full campaign, injury or not, next season will be the time to get rid of the midfielder and start to look elsewhere.
Pellegrini needs to avoid making such definitive claims over a man yet to prove his worth to the club – they could come back to bite him.
