Jack Wilshere has spoken about his transfer to Danish club Aarhus and revealed he felt 'unloved' by his situation at Arsenal.
The central midfielder has joined the Scandinavian side after being without a club for eight months following his departure from Championship outfit Bournemouth at the end of last season.
Wilshere had been training at the start of this campaign at Italian club Como but was unable to sign for the club as he did not hold an EU passport at the time.
Without a club and aiming to gain full fitness, Wilshere – who spent a decade in the north London club's first-team squad, making 197 appearances – then returned there to train, without signing a contract.
The midfielder has now penned a short-term deal at Aarhus until the end of the campaign with the option of renewing for a further season in Denmark.
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Despite Wilshere having been training with the Gunners, boss Mikel Arteta had previously ruled out his former teammate signing a contract with the club.
Wilshere has said of his move to Denmark: "I'm at a point in my career where I need to start over after a difficult period and that opportunity has been given to me by Aarhus.
"Since I started training with Arsenal, I never hid the fact that I was ready for 2022 and for a new club, I am very grateful and I will do my best to live up to the expectations."
He has previously spoken on the Under the Surface podcast about how clubs viewed him unfairly as a talented player who would inevitably run into fitness issues.
He had explained: "I think there's a preconceived opinion of me, and it's the response I've gotten from some clubs: he's a great player, but he's going to get injured.
"I have not had any injuries since before confinement and the last one was not serious. I have continued training every day. When I was at Bournemouth, I was available to play every match. Give me a chance. Let me prove that I'm fit."
Wilshere said that the situation of training at Arsenal but not being offered a contract made him feel unloved and presented him with an awkward situation to explain to his child.
"I have a 10-year-old son who is crazy about football, he loves it, and he watches the news on Sky Sports News," the midfielder said.
"He understands football, but it is very difficult to tell him about it. It is difficult to explain to him what is going on.
"He always asks me if I already have a club or if someone loves me, and I say no. I think that's all I can tell him. I have to be honest with him.
"I asked him to let me know when it was enough, that I would stop training on my own and maybe try something else."
Wilshere joined Arsenal as a nine-year-old, captaining multiple youth teams before making his first-team debut at the age of 16 years and 256 days – the club's youngest ever league debutant.
Last season, Wilshere made 17 appearances for Bournemouth - including 11 matches in the starting XI - but he featured in just nine minutes of the two playoff games against Brentford, as the south coast club came up short in their attempts to win promotion.
