What is Jack Wilshere’s ideal position and where does he fit in this squad?

A player who has undoubted talent while his passion for the club can’t be questioned, will he get near our starting XI will a full squad available?

He’s already been pushed into a few roles around the team in the last couple of seasons to mixed fortunes.

 

Up front?

Apparently keen to play behind the front man, he’s not in the same league as Santo Cazorla or Mesut Ozil and Alexis has impressed, like he has in any other position, the handful of times he’s been deployed there.

In the centre of midfield the Ramsey-Wilshere axis has been tried and it’s never looked convincing.

Ramsey, and arguably a few others are favoured in the role ahead of Wilshere and going by his form before his injury there is no reason to think he’ll be able to force his way back in a hurry.

At the back?

He’s just not a defensive midfielder either, not yet anyway.

He may develop into one but the couple of times he’s been our ‘defensive’ minded midfielder he’s had shockers.

A couple of good games for England against San Marino, Estonia and some other lesser nations don’t make him a DM. He’s too reckless in the challenge to be our shield in front of the back four.

Out wide?

The less said about his few ventures on the wing the better.

A couple of goals against Marseille in the Champions League looked like he may do a job there, but his lack of pace and positional awareness when we didn’t have the ball were a major cause for concern.

With strong rumours we’re going to be in the market for a defensive midfielder in the summer, along with the arrival of Francis Coquelin as a real player and Ramsey favoured by Wenger, where does Jack fit in?

And that’s without mentioning Ozil, the Ox, Cazorla, Rosicky, Alexis and Arteta… (and Schneiderlin?)

I get the feeling that next year will be very much a make or break season and any more off-the-field incidents could see Wenger lose patience with him.

If we sign the defensive midfielder we need this summer and with, arguably, seven other players ahead of him in the pecking order when available, it’ll take a lot of hard work for him to become a first team regular again.