(Football news) Former Arsenal star and England prodigy Jack Wilshere has retired at the age of just 30. Wilshere went onto become Arsenal's youngest league debutant when he featured at the age of just 16 and 256 days in 2008 after graduating from the club's youth academy. He was widely predicted to emerge as a key figure for both Arsenal and England since he made a bright start to his career but his progress was hampered by a series of career defining injuries and concerns about his off-field lifestyle.
Wilshere got his first England cap in 2010, winning 34 caps overall and featuring at the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016. He won the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2014 and 2015 but never fulfilled his potential even though he made 197 appearances for the Gunners. He spent a season on loan at Bournemouth and then made a permanent switch to West Ham in 2018. Wilshere returned to Bournemouth on a short-term deal in January 2021 and finally he had a spell in the Danish Superliga with AGF before deciding to hang up his boots.
Rather than pushing himself through another pre-season of staying in shape while waiting on potential offers from other clubs, Wilshere decided to hang up his boots and start a new chapter in his career, aiding the development of future stars. Wilshere is open to continue his association with professional football and is poised to take up a role as a coach in the Arsenal's youth system following the departure of Dan Micciche who became the new manager of Crawley. He shares a strong relationship with former team-mate Per Mertesacker, who is subsequently the head of the Gunners' academy and is looking forward to this new challenge.
The whole notion of English players getting overworked at a young tender age is true and Jack Wilshere is a prime example of this. Footballers are handsomely rewarded for their hard work, more so than any other generation of players before them. A large part of the average footballer’s salary is associated with incentives: appearances, goals, trophies, even fulfilling sponsors’ commitments. In many ways, this has left the young and upcoming footballers vulnerable to exploitation. This takes a toll on the players not only physically but mentally also as they tend to overwork and burnout by the time they reach their prime age of 28 or 30. Sometimes professionalism also plays a factor in a young footballers careers, success gets to them and they usually tend to lead an extravagant lifestyle. Certain young footballers need to take a step back and look at the top players like Ronaldo and Zlatan who are still at their physical best despite being close to 40 years old.
Wilshere wrote on Twitter. "It has been an unbelievable journey filled with so many incredible moments and I feel privileged to have experienced all that I did during my career, From being the little boy kicking a ball around in the garden to captaining my beloved Arsenal and playing for my country at a World Cup. I have lived my dream. In truth it has been difficult to accept that my career has been slipping away in recent times due to reasons outside of my control whilst feeling that I have still had so much to give.
"Having had time to reflect and talk with those closest to me I know that now is the right time and despite the difficult moments I look back on my career with great pride at what I have achieved. Words will never do justice to the love and thanks I have for the Boss, Arsene, Pat Rice and Boro Primorac," Wilshere said.
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