Most of transfer deadline day has been centered around which club Jack Wilshere will join, ever since it was revealed yesterday that Wilshere had been made available on loan by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. According to Sky Sports, Wilshere had offers from Crystal Palace, Bournemouth Watford and Benfica, before Roma and AC Milan joined the race.
Eventually, earlier today, it was announced that Wilshere had decided to join Bournemouth on a season-long loan deal, but what exactly was it that made Bournemouth stand out amongst the rest?
One of the most important factors behind Wilshere and Arsenal deciding to part ways for the year would have been the desire for first-team football, something which clearly Arsenal could not provide with many midfielders to choose from.
Bournemouth surely would allow Wilshere to play week in, week out, fitness willing, and provide the left-footer with a platform to stand out and be their main man. This is perhaps in contrast to what Roma, Milan and maybe even Crystal Palace could offer, with them already having a good variety of midfielders.
An argument made during the Euros was that English players were not prepared to go abroad and test themselves. With Joe Hart moving to Italy, this could have been an opportunity for England to have two currently capped players abroad. Was this the safe option for Wilshere? Probably safer in terms of game time, and in terms of staying where he lives with his family. Time will tell whether Bournemouth improve him as a player.
Perhaps another reason to choose Bournemouth over Palace and the rest, was striker Benik Afobe. The two grew up together in the Arsenal academy and are good friends.
The opportunity to strike up a fruitful partnership on the field as well as further enjoy their friendship could have been in the pair’s thinking, if they had had a conversation over the impending decision that Wilshere has faced over the last day or so.
The fact that this decision happened out of the blue suggests that this was a quick decision made by either the club, Wilshere himself, or both. Maybe Wilshere had realised he wasn’t going to get the time, or the club and Wenger came up with the decision for him. Either way, the proximity of the move Sam Allardyce’s England squad announcement – which excluded the injury-prone midfielder – is perhaps a little too convenient to ignore.
For this reason, surely the main thinking behind Wilshere’s move is where he is going to play the most, and Bournemouth seem to be the top of that list.
We must also not forget about Bournemouth manager, Eddie Howe. The reputation of the young man at the helm of Bournemouth is growing at quite a rate, and while Wilshere hasn’t perhaps hit his potential, he is still a big name amongst English players and so this could be seen as a big success for Bournemouth. Eddie Howe’s team are on the march, and attracting big name players as they move.
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