Arsene Wenger settles for Jack Wilshere compromise on England call-up

 
9 November 2012

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted he was not entirely happy with Jack Wilshere's international call-up, but felt he and England boss Roy Hodgson had reached "a good compromise".

Hodgson wasted no time in bringing Wilshere back into the senior squad, selecting him for next week's friendly in Sweden, despite the combative midfielder only just having returned from a long injury lay-off.

Wilshere, 20, spent more than a year on the sidelines because of niggling fitness problems which stem back to an ankle injury initially suffered when winning his fifth cap against Switzerland at Wembley in June 2011.

While Wenger would rather the midfielder had been completely rested from next week's fixture in Stockholm, the Arsenal manager revealed he had been given assurances by Hodgson over the player's fitness management.

Of the call-up, Wenger said he "saw it coming" and added: "I have no choice. If they call him up, they call him up. I have good relations with Roy Hodgson. We spoke about the situation, he knows my feeling and I know his feeling, so we cut a good compromise."

Wenger, however, accepts no-one will be able to restrain the enthusiasm of Wilshere, who seems likely to play 45 minutes in Stockholm.

"That's very difficult with Jack. He doesn't hold back. He doesn't know how to do that. I think if he plays him [in Sweden], he will play," said the Arsenal manager.

Wenger feels the next 10 games will show whether Jack Wilshere can last the distance for club and country this season.

"Jack is not completely through yet the big test of durability, but the fact is that he has come out in a positive way from the three first games, which were quite intense," said Wenger, who was at Great Ormond Street Hospital yesterday along with Wilshere to help open the Arsenal Lung Function Unit.

"The first response is positive. Let's touch wood and hope he gets through well. The next 10 games, of course, will tell you a lot more about that."

Along with Wilshere, Arsenal forward Theo Walcott has been included by England again.

Walcott's contract expires next summer, with his representatives and the club still some distance apart over wages and Walcott also expressing concerns over opportunities in his preferred central role.

If no deal can be brokered before January, Walcott would be able to negotiate a potentially lucrative pre-contract agreement with a foreign club or just hold firm and walk away on a free transfer.

"My desire is to keep Theo. We do what's needed to keep him and hopefully [as] I told you many times, we can sort this situation out very soon - very soon is before the end of December, one way or another, that is for sure," said Wenger.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in