Former Arsenal defender, Martin Keown, has revealed that Arsene Wenger sees Jack Wilshere as a special player and even treats the 25-year-old like his own son.

Wenger always has and always will believe in Jack’s ability. The manager has dedicated years of his career to standing by the injury-prone midfielder and reintroducing him to the first team countless times. Now, Keown says, Jack has to prove himself to the Frenchman if he wants to stay in north London.

“Wenger sees him as a special player,” Keown said.

“He loves him, treats him like his own son and he’s had to nurture him because he’s had many injuries.

“For step one he has to be regularly available, he’s just played five games back-to-back in the Europa League 90 minutes, he’s not done that for a long time. So that’s the first journey done.

“The performances have improved game after game, he’s incisive, he runs with the ball in that midfield like no other player.

“He wants to be an Arsenal player. We’re saying (Mesut) Ozil has been offered that many contracts and he doesn’t necessarily want to sign it.

“Jack Wilshere does and if he comes back into form, I would play him for the rest of the season because he has that little bit of extra quality.

“It can open up for him, his career can open up, but he is in that last-chance saloon.”

wilshere west ham
(IAN KINGTON/AFP/Getty Images)

Jack made his first Premier League start in 577 days against West Ham on Wednesday night and was Arsenal’s sharpest player. However, with just six months left on his current contract with the Gunners, it’s unclear how many more times we’ll get to see him play in red and white.

In November, Wenger claimed that the Englishman’s future would be sorted by December. Therefore, as Keown says, Jack will be doing everything he can to impress him whenever he gets the chance this month.

Whether that’s enough remains to be seen, but Wenger does see Jack as a special player and I imagine would rather he stay at Arsenal than leave. After all these years, if the midfielder can stay fit, it would be a dream come true for both him and his manager.