Facing the press for the first time since a story was released that Jack Wilshere was talked to by police after a night out, Arsène Wenger was quick to defend the midfielder.
Wilshere is yet to feature for Arsenal this season but is close to a return for Arsenal u21s this week. However, headlines are about his off-pitch ‘antics’ after he was seen talking to police this week.
Most importantly, there is nothing to worry about as far as Wenger is concerned.
“It looks to be taken out of proportion a little bit and, of course, these are matters we like to keep internal,” said the Arsenal boss, who is surely dealing with the matter as he sees fit. “There was no training session the next day, he had an off day (so) you can sometimes accept the players go out when they’re free the next day over the weekend.
“This is a completely private matter for me.”
Pressed by the media to comment on Wilshere, Wenger insisted that he doesn’t believe the England international has done too much wrong and isn’t worried about his conduct.
“It’s difficult to speak about that because I don’t know completely what happened. You know he can be provoked – it’s not easy today when you’re well known to go out anywhere without creating some provocations. You have the right to go out sometimes.”
But that didn’t satisfy those present at the press conference and Wenger was pushed to say whether or not Wilshere’s development could be affected by his behaviour off the pitch.
Unsurprisingly, the Arsenal manager doesn’t believe so.
“At the moment I believe he’s a real football brain. He loves football. He’s very serious, very dedicated. The only thing that could stop him having the career he can make is injuries. I hope he can get rid of that and make the career he deserves.”
Wenger is clearly willing to give Wilshere the benefit of the doubt and doesn’t feel the midfielder has done too much wrong in this case so what’s the issue? Of course, it’s just another story the media would like to make seem as controversial as possible.