Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger has stated that Jack Wilshere will need to stay free from injury for a very long time to be able to return to his best.
The England international has at one time or the other struggled to break free from his ever-recurring ankle problem and Wenger believes that for him to regain full confidence on the field of play, his name will have to be missing from the injury list for a period of about one to two years.
"He needs one or two years without problems to get the full confidence and belief back," said Wenger.
Wilshere who was on the bench against Mourinho's Chelsea last Sunday last featured for the Arsenal first team against Manchester United in November 2014, in a game which the Gunners lost 2-1. An ugly tackle by Paddy McNair ensured that Jack underwent a surgery which kept him out for a lengthy period. He then suffered a setback in February which warranted the removal of two pins from his ankle.
A succession of ankle problems the 23-year-old has been battling with has made it impossible for him to establish himself as a regular, both at the Emirates and with the English national team.
It all started in pre-season of 2011 when he fractured his right ankle and had to be sidelined for 17 months. From that moment, it had been problems upon problems on either his left or right ankle.
In a chat ahead of his side's visit to Hull on Monday, Wenger noted that numerous injuries to key players in the course of the season is one factor that accounts for Arsenal's current state on the league table. He believes the Gunners would have been in a better position by now had they had all players available for a greater part of the campaign.
"We had big injuries at the start of the season and we only got our squad together more recently. Even then we still lost players like Wilshere in November, and then again afterwards. We were not all together.
"So it took us some time to find a good balance in the team and we dropped some points because of that. Missing players was certainly detrimental to our results."
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