Former Arsenal and England midfielder Jack Wilshere according to the BBC has joined Danish side AGF Aarhus after eight months without a club. The 30-year-old was training with the Gunners this season – as well as doing some coaching – having struggled to find a new team after his release by Championship club Bournemouth in May.
“I am in a place in my career where I need to get started again after a difficult period,” said Wilshere. AGF offered me that opportunity.”
He added: “For that I am very grateful, and I will do everything I can to live up to the expectations.” Wilshere has signed on a deal until the summer with an option to extend – and will wear the number 10 shirt.
“Since I started training with Arsenal, I have never hidden the fact that it was to be ready for 2022 and for a new club,” he said. “Now the right club is here, and it will be an exciting new challenge for me.
“I am very much looking forward to contributing to the team. I’m physically in really good shape and I feel fit, so now for me it’s about getting into the squad and see if I can earn some playing time for the club.” He has only played 36 games since leaving Arsenal in 2018. AGF, who last won a trophy in 1996, are seventh in the Danish Superliga.
Sports director Stig Inge Bjornebye, the ex-Liverpool and Blackburn defender, said: “He is in good physical shape, but obviously lacks some game fitness. But that will soon come, and we look forward to seeing him in the white jersey when he has settled in.”
Wilshere was also without a club for a period last season, leaving West Ham in October and joining Bournemouth in January. He made 17 appearances for the Cherries, with his final game coming in the Championship play-offs against Brentford.
Injuries Have Plagued Wilshere’s Career.
He made 197 appearances for Arsenal and won 34 caps for England, but many expected more of him. In November, he told BBC Sport: “I 100% think I can still play.
“I don’t care what people say or write or what they say on social media. I am an honest guy. If I didn’t think I could, I would be the first to say ‘enough, I am going to do something else’.
“But I am almost at the point where I think something different, abroad, might be beneficial to me.”
