As Arsenal sacked Unai Emery, the Mirror released an exclusive with Jack Wilshere who revealed he’s taking his first steps towards becoming a coach.
A number of years a go, a friend of someone who writes for this site said that Jack Wilshere’s ankles would never let him play football at the top level. He knew him, or people close to him. It seemed absurd at the time, when Wilshere had only really begun to suffer problems, but almost 10 years on it looks like he was right on the money.
Since leaving Arsenal for West Ham last summer, Jack has managed to play just 712 minutes across 16 games with one goal and one assist.
Still only 27, injuries have kept him out of at least 30 West Ham games. Specifically, ankle injuries that required more surgery.
As such, it’s perhaps no surprise that Wilshere’s attention is turning towards coaching.
“When I talk about what I want to do after my playing career, what interests me is the development of kids, more than management,” he told the Mirror. “I like coaching and giving advice to kids.
“It is rewarding. I know Steven Gerrard started working with Liverpool’s youth team, used that as a stepping stone and some players are different. Frank Lampard is at the top already. I see myself going into coaching kids, going into an academy and see if I enjoy it.
“When you go out of a playing career for 15 years, there’s a lot of pressure, travelling away and it would be nice to spend a bit more time at home with my family but I definitely want to do some kind of coaching.
“I look at Lampard and Gerrard, people like that and I think: ‘wow – fair play to you.’
“They’ve gone into a pressure situation where they are coaching, they are working but they also have to win games and that’s even more pressure.
“There’s maybe a little less pressure working with kids where winning is not everything, your goal is to develop players, get them ready for the next step. That’s what interests me first, but then things change.
“Lampard did great at Derby but probably didn’t expect to be at Chelsea this soon and he’s doing unbelievably well. Things change and things come up, you never know.
“I’ve got a few years left playing, but it will be interesting to speak to Steve or Frank and see how young or how early they were thinking about being a coach, they probably were about my age because it takes a while to get your qualifications.
“I want to keep it ticking over with the Elites, getting more experience with your coaching because you’re then ready when you finish.”