Arsenal and England star Jack Wilshere could face ankle ligament surgery which will keep him out of action for up to three months. The midfielder is expected to meet with a specialist in the coming days and the decision will be taken as to whether he needs the operation to repair the damage to his left ankle that he suffered after a challenge from Manchester United’s Paddy McNair on Saturday.
If Arsenal feel that Wilshere can be fully rehabilitated without the surgery, he would be back in action sooner but he would still most likely miss around eight weeks. It is a tough blow for the England midfielder, who had found form for club and country, and he will now begin the familiar process of considering the long road back to fitness.
Speaking ahead of his side’s Champions League tie with Borussia Dortmund, Gunners boss Arsene Wenger said this about McNair’s challenge:
“I don’t think it was a tackle with the desire to hurt, I think he went for the ball but it was a late tackle, a tackle which a young player can do,” Wenger said. “It was a bad foul.”
“The tackle caught him from the side, just when Jack had moved the ball forwards too much. When he dived to make the pass, McNair came in to make the tackle and took him from the back and the side. When you see the picture, it is very bad. There is no bone damage; we knew that straightaway after the game but there is ligament damage. It does not look good.”
Wilshere has a long history of ankle injuries, and an injury to his right ankle in the summer of 2011 forced him to miss 17 months of football. Which is why I am still baffled as to why the Arsenal medical staff elected to let Wilshere try and return to the field after the tackle, when he was obviously in a great deal of pain. When a player has a history of ankle injuries, and just suffered a crouching tackle to his ankle, you don’t let him return and possible make the problem worse by carrying on.