Jack Wilshere is prepared to give Arsenal another chance to improve their latest contract offer as he searches for a way to remain at Arsenal.

Offered a whopping £8m sign-on bonus by Everton, £120kpw by West Ham and being tempted to Serie A by AC Milan and Juventus, Jack Wilshere will not be short of options when the transfer window opens and he can leave for free.

He’s made it perfectly clear that he’s not prepared to sign the deal Arsenal have offered him. A paycut is not something he is prepared to take, no matter how many performance-related bonuses Arsenal load it with.

wilshere tottenham
(Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

Arsenal, for their part, believe that they have made a fair offer to a player who has yet to convince anyone his injury problems are firmly behind him.

Speaking to the Guardian, Jack revealed that Wenger told him he could find another club last summer. “It was an honest conversation [with Wenger],” Wilshere said.

“It had been boiling up for a while. Everybody knew I had a year left on my deal and had been out on loan, got injured and wasn’t really in his plans. He just said: ‘At the moment we are not going to be offering you a contract so, if you can get one somewhere else, you can go.’

“Obviously I wasn’t happy with what the manager had said but, at the same time, part of me knew all this already.

“All I needed was some clarity on where I stood at the football club. How did I feel after? It did make me think. He’d said I could fight for my position and, if I performed well in the Carabao Cup and Europa League, I’d have a chance. I had three or four weeks left in the transfer window but I didn’t find anything I wanted and at the same time I wasn’t really fit. So I decided to build up my fitness. I always had confidence I could get back into the midfield, and keep my place, if I was fit.”

Both player and club are taking a stand on issues you can understand, but if Arsenal want to keep Wilshere beyond this summer and into his 18th year at the club, they are going to have to be the ones to blink.

Negotiations are being handled by newbie, Huss Fahmy, whom the S*n report is showing no inclination to improve on the offer already made to Jack that would require him to take anything from a £20k-per-week reduction to 25%, depending on where you do your reading. Wilshere is reportedly hoping that Wenger will intervene to break the deadlock.

Jack’s contract with Arsenal ends on 30th June at which time he will most likely be in Russia with England at the World Cup. A great showing there will only up the wages he expects meaning if Arsenal want to get him for a salary in the region of what he is currently earning, never mind less, then they need to get a deal sorted before he jets off.

In his interview with the Guardian, Wilshere added, “I don’t think it [the contract situation] would be a distraction [at the World Cup].

“This is one of the most important years of my career and, if I’d worried about the contract, I would have probably ended up leaving in January. I just wanted to focus on getting back in the Arsenal team and then, hopefully, getting back here with England.

“Ideally, yes, I’d want it sorted as soon as possible. I want to go to the World Cup and enjoy it. But we have three months till then and a lot can happen. Let’s finish the season strongly. We’ve got a big competition that we need to win with Arsenal and I want to be involved in that. Hopefully, going into the World Cup, I’ll be fit and, if selected, confident.”