Arsene Wenger has been addressing the media in the traditional news conference way ahead of Arsenal’s FA Cup semi-final with Manchester City on Sunday – he of course spoke of this and Jack Wilshere, along with (sort of) his own future.
First things first, this semi with Man City will give Arsenal a chance to get back towards ‘maximum’ confidence as we look to keep alive our hopes of silverware this season.
Wenger was quoted by the BBC: ‘What I expect when you go to the semi-final is go to the final. It’s a special experience at Wembley. You are focused and highly motivated. We are not at the maximum at our confidence. This is a good opportunity to show how much we are ready to fight and go to final. This is our only chance of a trophy.’
What of his apparent two year deal on offer? As always he wasn’t giving anything away on this score.
Responding, when asked: ‘I haven’t told my players anything – my commitment is total and I’m only focused on Arsenal.’
The news on Wilshere’s broken leg was positive though. Wenger doesn’t believe the midfielder will need surgery to repair this issue allowing him to return in time for pre-season training.
He said: ‘I’ve not spoken to Jack recently. They think it’s a simple fracture, but he doesn’t need any surgery. He’ll be back in July for normal training. It’s a simple fracture of the fibula. The rehab will be made here.’
Wenger went on to speak of his sadness for Wilshere, 25, who has suffered many injury setbacks in his career, suggesting he doesn’t get much luck.
‘His loan spell ends at the end of the season. I felt sad when he was injured again. Jack is a great football player with a great football brain. His career has been stopped by many injuries. The game is of such an intensity it takes a while to get the confidence back. A great career doesn’t stop and go – you have to be consistent. Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays 50 games a year, has luck.’
This hairline fracture to his fibula isn’t going to make any difference to Wilshere’s contract talks though as this will be discussed ‘during the break’ – I assume Wenger had no pun intended? He meant the summer break not the leg break…
He finished: ‘This injury has nothing to do with extension of Jack’s contract. We haven’t entered negotiations with Jack. In all of these cases with one year to go – we’ll discuss during the break.’
