Jack Wilshere could return to Arsenal in a coaching capacity after reportedly holding talks with his former club.
Wilshere is currently without a club after ending his spell in Denmark with Aarhus. The 30-year-old midfielder is yet to decide what his future holds, but has coaching aspirations for when he does call time on his playing career.
That possibility could come around sooner than later, with the Evening Standard reporting that Wilshere has met with Arsenal ’s academy manager Per Mertesacker to discuss two vacant roles at the club. Arsenal are currently without a under-23s manager and a under-18s boss following the departures of Kevin Betsy and Dan Micciche to Crawley Town earlier this month.
Wilshere spent time with Arsenal before joining Aarhus and, as well as keeping fit, helped out with some coaching with the academy sides. He spoke fondly of his time on the training pitches at London Colney and could now be set for a permanent role at the club he represented for 10 years.
"I feel even in a short amount of time I’ve improved so much as a coach, I’ve learnt so much about the coaching side of the game, I’ve really enjoyed it,” Wilshere told the club website in February.
"I took pride [in passing on my knowledge to the academy players], but also where the coaches help me is that it’s one thing having the knowledge, I’ve been in all of those players’ footsteps and made it to the first team, but it’s alright knowing that and knowing how you do it, but it’s about how you get that across to the players and how you teach them and the coaches have really helped me with that."
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Wilshere has not ruled out continuing as a player, but in an interview last month, he made it clear that coaching was an avenue he would like to pursue, having had a taste at Arsenal. “I was coaching every day with the under-18s and under-23s. I loved every minute of it. When I was a player under Arsene Wenger I never really wanted to be a coach, and I never looked at him like that," he told the Daily Telegraph .
"I just listened to him and learned from him that way. But when I first started coaching the one I was watching was Mikel [Arteta]. He helped, along with the young players, to inspire me to want to be a coach.
“I was obviously a little bit worried, a little bit scared about the future. I didn’t know what it would look like for me. And then when I was coaching on a day-to-day basis, it changed for me. I really enjoyed it. I could see myself doing it. I saw a future for me in it.”
