Arsenal midfielder, Jack Wilshere, has revealed that manager Arsene Wenger told him last summer he could leave the club.
Wilshere was pedalling away on the watt bike at the club’s training ground last summer, when Wenger stopped by.
“I wasn’t getting in the Arsenal team and the manager said I could leave if I wanted to.
“I was on the bike in the gym. It was a strange one, because maybe part of me knew all this already – all I needed was some clarity on where I stood. It was an honest conversation. We have known each other long enough where we can have that relationship where we are honest with each other.
“It was boiling up for a while because everybody knew I had a year left on my deal and I had been out on loan, got injured, and wasn’t really in his plans.
“He said, ‘I am going to be honest with you. At the moment we are not going to be offering you a contract, so if you can get a contract somewhere else, you can go’.
“Obviously I was not happy with that, but at the same time I was happy he was being honest. He gave me the opportunity with three or four weeks left in the transfer window, but I did not find anything that I wanted and at the same time I was not really fit, so I decided that I wanted to stay and build up my fitness.
“He also said that if I did stay I had an opportunity to fight for my place, and if I performed well in the Carabao Cup and Europa League, I had a chance,” Wilshere told Sportsmail.
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