Mikel Arteta expects Jack Wilshere to make Arsenal return as coach

Mikel Arteta expects Jack Wilshere to return to Arsenal as a coach and says the club will “open the doors” to a role when the midfielder has finished his playing career.

Wilshere signed for the Danish side Aarhus last Sunday, having been without an employer since leaving Bournemouth in June. He had been training for most of the season at Arsenal, where he made 207 appearances before leaving in 2018, while taking his coaching badges and Arteta would like to find him a position in the long term.

“One hundred per cent,” he said when asked whether Wilshere would come back one day in a coaching capacity. “Everybody at the club will be willing to open the doors to him to try and find a role for him that can work for everybody. I think that will happen naturally.”

Alongside training, Wilshere was involved with Arsenal’s under-23 coaching setup during his recent spell. Arteta explained that the 30-year-old, a former teammate who he described as an “absolute pleasure” to have worked with again, had not been sure about continuing as a player but said his immersion in an upwardly mobile first-team squad had reignited his desire.

“Hopefully we have helped him a bit because he had some doubts whether to start coaching or continue playing,” he said. “I think this group of players have given him that necessity to feel again on a daily basis how magnificent it is to feel like a football player.”

Arsenal face Wolves on Thursday in a game rescheduled from the height of the Omicron outbreak. The pair sit sixth and seventh in the Premier League, although Arsenal have a game in hand and are two points clear of Bruno Lage’s side. They also won 1-0 at Molineux this month and, with fourth place comfortably in their sights given Manchester