Jack Wilshere believes Bournemouth is the best place for him to develop this season after completing a season-long loan deal from Arsenal on Wednesday. Wilshere rejected offers from Crystal Palace, Milan and Roma to join Eddie Howe’s side, after being allowed to leave Arsenal on loan by Arsène Wenger.
His availability had sparked interest from more than 20 clubs from England and across Europe. Wilshere met Howe and the Palace manager, Alan Pardew, on Tuesday, and spoke with the former Tottenham Hotspur director of football, Franco Baldini, about a move to Italy with Roma.
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. Wilshere, who was left out of Sam Allardyce’s first England squad, has been impressed with Howe and is believed to be have been persuaded to join the club by Benik Afobe, his best friend and former Arsenal team-mate, also at Bournemouth.
“I had a good chat with the manager and feel sure this is the best place for me to play and develop this season,” said Wilshere in a statement on Twitter. “I would like to thank everyone at the club for making me feel so welcome. I am looking forward to working hard every day with the coaching staff and my new team-mates to help the club achieve success on the pitch.”
Wilshere became Bournemouth’s eighth summer signing and Howe said the player could prove to be the missing piece of the jigsaw. “We had a good talk about football, about Bournemouth the place and the club, thankfully he chose us,” the manager said. “We talked about the club and various different things, obviously we’re delighted he’s chosen us and I feel he will do really well in the team. Jack is obviously out there on his own with his profile and what we’ve attracted before, it’s a good deal and one that can work for both sides. He can complement our style of play and maybe add that missing piece to the jigsaw.”
Bournemouth play Milan on Saturday in a testimonial for the club’s former defender Warren Cummings and return to league action at home to West Bromwich Albion the following weekend. Wilshere trained with his new team-mates for the first time on Thursday but Howe is reluctant to say when the midfielder would first play. “We’ll wait and see, hopefully as soon as possible but I don’t want to set any targets. We’ll see how everything works in training.”
