Kieran Tierney has hailed Jack Wilshere as a "hero" in a clear indication of the high regard the former Arsenal midfielder is held in by the squad.
Wilshere, 30, has been training with Mikel Arteta's side since the autumn despite the fact he has not been on the club's books since his contract expired in 2019.
The Englishman was let go by Bournemouth at the end of last season and the Gunners have offered him the chance to get his career back on track by training with Premier League players day in, day out.
Arteta included Wilshere in his travelling party which arrived in Dubai last week for a winter training camp to prepare for the hectic second half of the season.
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The Hale End academy graduate has relished the opportunity to train with his old club under the coaching of former teammate Arteta, whom he recently labelled a "genius".
But it is far from a one-sided relationship, as Tierney's glowing praise for Wilshere suggests he is helping to set the tone for the wider Arsenal squad.
Wilshere posted an Instagram story showing him embracing Tierney and wrote, "Proper player," and the Scottish left-back responded by writing: "What a player.. pleasure training you ma man. Hero."
Tierney, 24, may be one of many Arsenal players benefitting from Wilshere's years of experience as he hones his coaching ability.
Strongly hinting he could pursue a career in management once he calls time on playing, the former Three Lions star explained how he has been working with the Gunners' academy set-up.
"I’ve been doing as much coaching as possible," Wilshere told Arsenal Media. "Obviously, if the manager needs a player and they’re training at the same time, it was quite difficult, but actually, because of Covid it worked out quite nice that I was training in the morning with the first team and then coaching in the afternoon with the under 18s."
Wilshere added: "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.
"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."
