Arsenal to Manchester City transfer could be the making of Jack Wilshere

Many homegrown youngsters move to the Etihad and vanish off the radar but Dave Kidd reckons it would help the midfielder become England's star man

Jumping Jack? Wilshere's Sunday goals prove he should be the main man SOMEWHERE

There's usually a shudder of dread whenever a young English player is linked with a move to Manchester City.
A fear that another promising talent will be added to the missing list, having entered the Etihad’s Bermuda Triangle.
Raheem Sterling might be one for the vortex, just like Jack Rodwell, Scott Sinclair and Adam Johnson before him.
There’s little doubt Sterling would play less than he does for Liverpool, at any rate.
But not Jack Wilshere, the man who should be the heartbeat of the England team for a generation.

Blue-muda Triangle: Joining City backfired for English prospects such as Jack Rodwell

A move to City could be the making of Wilshere - an opportunity to gain more regular first-team football in central midfield.
The Arsenal fan-boy tendency is part of Wilshere’s rough-diamond charm. He’d want to be on the terraces if he wasn’t a scamp infected with stardust. Although, in truth, he might have struggled to afford an Emirates season ticket.
He wasn’t really sorry for his anti-Tottenham abuse on Arsenal’s FA Cup victory parade. Young Gooners shout about Spurs being s**t on the top deck of buses, that’s just what they do.
But a move away from the comfort zone of his only club would help him to flourish at 23.

Jack Wilshere speaks to the fans — Leaving home? Wilshere has grown up at Arsenal but it's time he moved out

A string of long-term injuries have hindered Wilshere’s development, far more than any lack of faith from Arsene Wenger.
Yet with Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin currently ahead of him in the queue for those two central midfield starting spots, with Aaron Ramsey also adamant he wants to play in there and with Wenger keen to sign another player, such as Morgan Schneiderlin, to contest those positions, it is difficult to see Wilshere fulfilling his potential at Arsenal.
He is too often shoe-horned into the team in a wide position, which does not suit him.
He’s a No 8, in continental coaching parlance - a deep-lying central midfielder with licence to push forward.
But so too are Cazorla and Ramsey.

Wide of the mark: Wenger too often shunts Wilshere into unsuitable role on the flank

Wilshere claims he just ‘wants to be wanted’ by Arsenal – part of the usual contract-extension courtship dance, words which are more about money than assurances of a regular place in the starting line-up.
He also claims he would never move away from the Emirates just to be part of another club’s English quota - words deemed to be a snub for City.
But with Yaya Toure a fading force, and with Frank Lampard and James Milner having already left, Wilshere would be no token home-grown player.
He wouldn’t be part of a box-ticking exercise - he could make City tick from box to box.

Ta-ta Toure? Manchester City's midfield talisman is 32 and not the force he was

City are likely to bid for Wilshere this summer, though more in hope than expectation. They believe he is fully capable of establishing himself at the heart of Manuel Pellegrini’s team, perhaps alongside Paul Pogba.
Wilshere is good enough to play regularly for City - or indeed Chelsea, should they ever come knocking.
He may have been England’s next big thing for seven years now but when Wilshere talks about studying Paul Gascoigne, the similarities between the two players are not fanciful.
It’s not just the lovable roguishness. It’s the burst of pace, the upper-body strength and the willingness to run at the opposition from deep.
And those first two England goals in Slovenia on Sunday – cracking strikes both – suggested Wilshere can add goals to his game.

Currently, he tends only to score Goal Of The Season contenders, so a few scruffy ones wouldn’t go amiss.
No Arsenal fan would want to see him go. Wenger wants to keep him in his armoury, too.
But, like fellow Englishmen Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Kieran Gibbs, Wilshere is not even close to being a nailed-on fixture in the Gunners' starting line-up.
Slovenia 2-3 England in pictures:

Wayne Rooney celebrates scoring the third goal for England

None of these players is wet-behind-the-ears kids any more. None should be content with squad-player status.
Least of all Wilshere. He’s too good to be a Jack of all trades.