Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Jack Wilshere will definitely have a role in his Arsenal coaching team in the future, after the midfielder finally found a new club.
Wilshere spent a number of months training with Arteta’s squad, as he blended the twin aims of regaining fitness and beginning his coaching journey.
Earlier this week, the ex-England international sealed a move to Danish club Aarhus having been without a team since his release from Bournemouth at the end of the last season.
The 30-year-old worked alongside some of the Gunners’ most talented youngsters, as well as filling in during first-team training sessions.
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Arteta had always made it clear that his time back in north London wouldn’t culminate in a full-time contract, with Wilshere now signing with Aarhus until the end of the campaign with an option to extend a further 12 months.
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."
And the Gunners boss has paid tribute to Wilshere for his influence at London Colney and wished him luck for his return to competitive action.
"First of all, thank you for what he’s done with us, it’s been great to have him with us,” Arteta told reporters. “It’s been absolutely a pleasure to have Jack back and to watch him playing and having him around the younger players.
“Hopefully we can help him and we have helped him a little bit already, because he had some doubts over what to do - whether to keep playing or start coaching. I think this group of players have given him that necessity to experience on a daily basis how magnificent it is to feel like a football player.
“He wants to experience that again and we wish him the best of luck.”
Asked if there was a chance he could return to the coaching setup in the future, Arteta added: “100 per cent. Everybody at the club will be willing to open the doors for him and try to find a role for him. That will happen naturally in the future.”
Wilshere previously told Under the Surface podcast 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.”
