There is one thing that no player wants to be remembered for during their career – injury. I think most would rather be known as a failure than an injured player who never got a chance. A player who is injured will always look back on their career and wonder “what if?”
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Few Premier League players have had as much potential accompanied by as many injuries as Jack Wilshere. When he made his way on to the Arsenal first team, it was immediately clear that he was going to be a unique and special talent. He was just a teenager but we all believed that he would become a great playmaker for Arsenal.
Fast-forward to today. Wilshere has been plagued with injury after injury during his time in North London and thanks to so many matches spent on the sidelines, he has yet to become the player we all believed he would.
On Monday night, Wilshere’s former teammate Cesc Fabregas recorded his 12th assist for Chelsea in a 2-0 victory for the Blues over Stoke City.
Photo Courtesy of Twitter @101GreatGoals
So what do Fabregas and Wilshere have to do with one another?
Fabregas played in his 16th match of the season on Monday and recorded his 12th assist, while Wilshere has played in 95 matches during his time with Arsenal and has only assisted on 11 goals.
When Fabregas left Chelsea for Barcelona three seasons ago, many believed that his midfield replacement would be Jack Wilshere. Moments of brilliance have shown that Wilshere has the potential to be as creative and exciting as Fabregas, but there was one major problem.
During the 2010-2011 season, Wilshere played in 35 matches for the Gunners. Since then, he has failed to get anywhere near that same mark.
| Season | Appearances |
| 2010-2011 | 35 |
| 2011-2012 | 0 |
| 2012-2013 | 25 |
| 2013-2014 | 24 |
| 2014-2015 | 9 (so far) |
I had high hopes for Wilshere going into this campaign. In my preseason predictions, I picked him to be the EPL player of the season. But I was looking in the wrong direction. I should have been looking for the former Arsenal man, Cesc Fabregas.
Pain in the Arsenal
Because of great goal scoring seasons from Sergio Aguero, Diego Costa, Charlie Austin and Alexis Sanchez, Cesc Fabregas’ brilliance is going under the radar and he is quietly putting together a campaign as the best player in the Premier League. He is on pace to break the EPL season assist record of 20 and is four assists ahead of any other player.
You can’t help but feel bad for Jack Wilshere. He is still only 22 years old, but who knows if or when he will finally arrive at his potential. It’s not his fault. For a man who was once compared to great players like Andres Iniesta and Xavi, Wilshere’s body has never given him to chance to live up to such high praise.
As a fan of great football, I can only hope that one day Jack Wilshere finds his form and extended heath and becomes the player we all hoped he could become. After all, like I said, he is still just 22. It’s still too soon to make final judgments about his career. All we can do is hope that when we look back on it, his won’t be a career marked with an asterisk due to injury.