“We were contacted and asked, ‘would we be interested?’ We said yes and threw our hat in the ring but the player chose to go to Bournemouth, I think one of his best mates plays there”.
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But the 24-year-old agreed to move to Bournemouth, who will pay the midfielder’s £90,000-a-week wage in full and a £2m loan fee.
He joined the Arsenal academy aged nine and has had only one brief spell away from the club, when he played 14 matches for Bolton Wanderers on loan in 2010.
Once regarded as one of the brightest young hopes in English football, Wilshere has slipped down the pecking order at Arsenal after being restricted by injury to 17 league games in the last two seasons.
Club chief executive Neill Blake said: “Jack is a fantastic addition to the club”.
That looked to rule out mooted interest from Roma, among a reported 22 clubs interested in taking on the England global, though Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is reported to have restricted any move to within the Premier League.
Bournemouth have signed England midfielder Jack Wilshere on loan from Arsenal until the end of the season. Who is to say he can’t rip this up in the next month and win Player of the Month in the Premier League?
Wilshere failed to start any of the three Arsenal games this season, with Arsene Wenger preferring the likes of Granit Xhaka, Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey, Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny.
Their sporting director Frank Baumann spoke on Tuesday of his confidence the winger’s arrival was imminent, and after the signing was confirmed said: “We are delighted that Serge has made a decision to sign for us, even though he had a number of different options”.
“We had a good football talk and talked about the club”.
“I think it is a big thing for us”.
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The Cherries manager also expressed his delight at capturing a player of Wilshere’s calibre and indicated that the Arsenal star will be a regular starter if he can prove his fitness.
