Premier League

Gough fears for Wilshere, Durham urges him to retire from England duty

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Image for Gough fears for Wilshere, Durham urges him to retire from England duty

Darren Gough shared he feared for West Ham midfielder Jack Wilshere due to his injury record.

The retired England cricketer stated he worried about the Hammers midfielder’s injury problems as he claimed that he wondered if Wilshere would ever mentality be the same after his injuries, as surely he will be constantly fearing injuries could strike again.

“Injuries start to follow you and once you get them, they keep coming back,” said Gough on talkSPORT (18:06pm, Wednesday, August 7th).

“My fear for Wilshere is, he comes back when he just gets back to his best and we’re all going England call-up just round the corner.

“It’s the same with Carroll, look at Carroll’s West Ham career, when he was fit and he had a little run, you thought hang on a minute, got something here now, back to his best, he can affect games with his power and defenders are scared of him, then oh there he goes, ankles have gone again.

“The worry for me with Wilshere is that he is such a good player, will he ever be the same mentally again after all those injuries? With him, thinking could those injuries happen again.”

Durham then shared he agreed with Gough and proceeded to urge Wilshere to make the painful decision to call time on his England career.

“I think what Wilshere has got to do is retire from England duty,” stated Durham.

“You know me and I don’t think players should retire early from international duty, but his is an extraordinary case, bit like the Shearer case, where you have so many injuries you just cannot cope with that workload, extra pressure, extra travelling, extra training, you need that break mid-season when it comes around.

“So I think for the sake of his career, Wilshere needs to make a statement to say I’m not putting myself up for England selection anymore, it’ll probably hurt him, but I think it’s for the best.”

OPINION

Gough sounds like any West Ham fan going into the new season as everyone likely worries about Wilshere’s bad luck with injuries striking again. After all, the 27-year-old has looked the real deal in pre-season and it would be just typical if as soon as he features in a competitive game that his body breaks down. Wilshere barely featured for Manuel Pellegrini’s side last season due to injury problems, and you just hope lightning will not strike twice. The midfielder played just 339 minutes of Premier League action across eight outings, as per Transfermarket, with an ankle issue keeping keep him on the sidelines for over 150 days. When fit, Wilshere has already proven to be effective in the Premier League. The high-profile midfielder has assisted 18 goals in 174 Premier League appearances and impressively has averaged 42.64 passes per game across his top-flight career (Source: Premier League). As for Durham’s suggestion that Wilshere should retire from England, the 27-year-old has only 34 caps for England, it’s hard to see him making such a painful career decision at an age where he should be hitting his peak.

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