From teen star to manager at 33 – Wilshere’s journey

He was an Arsenal wonderkid who had the world at his feet – now, after a playing career ravaged by injuries, Jack Wilshere will take his first steps in management at League One side Luton aged just 33.

It is a “full-circle moment” for Wilshere who returns to the club where he started as an eight-year-old before moving to Arsenal aged nine.

Wilshere then made his first-team debut for the Gunners in 2008 at just 16 years and 256 days – becoming a regular in 2010-11 when he was 18.

However, his career was blighted by injuries, with the midfielder breaking his right ankle in pre-season in 2011 and being ruled out for 15 months.

He missed a total of 151 Arsenal games between 2011 and 2016, spending more than 1,000 days on the sidelines during his time at Emirates Stadium.

At 25 a surgeon warned him he might not be able to play again, but Wilshere ended his Arsenal career with 197 appearances – and two FA Cup trophies – as well as 34 international caps.

Spells at Bournemouth, West Ham and AGF Aarhus followed his Arsenal exit in 2018 before Wilshere retired in 2022 aged 30.

Wilshere briefly returned to Luton in 2021, being invited to train at the club by then boss Nathan Jones after he had left West Ham.

He says it was around this time that he started considering a move into coaching.

And Wilshere took advice from current Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta before taking a managerial job.

“About a year ago I asked Mikel when he knew he was ready,” Wilshere said at his news conference on Monday.

“He laughed and said ‘you just have to jump in and swim as hard as you can’.

“He’s done that really well and this feels a little similar. It’s a different level but Arsenal wasn’t a nice place when Mikel went in.

“The fans weren’t sure what was happening and he built complete unity and trust in what he was doing.”

Yet it was clear to some Wilshere was going to become a manager much earlier in his career.

“You could see the way his brain works, what he sees on the football pitch, how he wants to play the game and change things,” said Paul Robinson, who played with Wilshere when he was on loan at Bolton in 2010.

“You could always see that he would go into [management] and the coaching side eventually.”

Robinson added: “You [can see the] players who could go on and be good coaches, they understand the game, and they can change the game quickly with a different formation or moving players to a different position…

“With Jack, he was always that type of guy. He understood it. He always wanted to talk about different things.

Luton believe they have a manager who can add some magic to a club who have tumble from the Premier League to League One with successive relegations.

The Hatters are currently 11th in the third tier, five points adrift of the play-offs, having won five and lost five of their 11 games.

Just over two years ago, they beat Everton at Goodison Park for an historic first Premier League victory.

Luton had whittled down nine options to a three-man shortlist for the job – with Wilshere joined by Leyton Orient manager Richie Wellens and former Swansea boss Luke Williams.

It was an extensive process and Wilshere impressed the interviewing panel with his knowledge and enthusiasm.

Luton chose him above Wellens – who took Orient to the League One play-off final last year and has two promotions from League Two on his CV.

With Wilshere comes assistant Chris Powell, the former Charlton manager who has managed in the top four divisions, and Luton believe his experience will be crucial in aiding their new manager in his first role.

The League One visit of Mansfield on Saturday is the latest and most notable point on Wilshere’s brief coaching journey so far.

He took his first role with Arsenal Under-18s in 2022 at 30 after being forced to retire after a brief spell in Denmark with Aarhus.

Wilshere was then appointed as Norwich first-team coach last year – and oversaw two Championship games as caretaker boss after Johannes Hoff Thorup was sacked.

The ex-Arsenal playmaker becomes the third-youngest manager in the top four divisions – behind Brighton’s Fabian Hurzeler and Will Still at Southampton.

“I don’t want people to think about my playing career,” said Wilshere at his Luton unveiling.

“There are many things I can use from my playing career – my experiences with different coaches, good and bad – to try and make me the coach I am today.

“But the first week I was at Arsenal with the under-18s I quickly realised this is something I was going to have to get better at – being a good player doesn’t make you a good coach…

“I wanted to be clear that I didn’t want to step straight to a first team until I was ready.

“Then I went to Norwich, and that taught me so much. I was in the real world.

“This is a new Jack Wilshere, a different Jack Wilshere, who is hungry to achieve great things.”

When Thorup was sacked in April, Wilshere was handed the Norwich job for the final two games of the season. He made it clear he wanted – and felt ready – to take on the role full-time.

Having played under Arsene Wenger at Arsenal and returning to a coaching role at the club’s academy under Arteta, it is obvious to see where Wilshere’s philosophy has been shaped.

Yet he wants to make his own way in the game and not be compared to anyone who he has worked with before.

“You are who you are as a coach and that’s important,” he said.

“But I spent my life in the academy at Arsenal so I have a way of thinking about the game. I like the ball, I want to have control of the game – but there’s things that you have to do before you can get to that.

“My coaches over the years said to me ‘you have to earn the right’.

“It’s probably an old saying in football but it’s still there. You have to earn the right to get the ball.