It’s been eight weeks since Jack Wilshere tumbled to the turf in agony under the hard challenge of Denmark’s Daniel Agger.
Since then the Arsenal and England midfielder has been rehabilitating the broken bone in his foot and today reports from The Guardian claim Wilshere is on track to be fit for the World Cup.
It’s good news for a national team that has suffered a rash of unfortunate injuries to young players including Theo Walcott, Jay Rodriguez and Andros Townsend, all three of whom are out due to knee ligament damage, and Kyle Walker, whose status is in the air due to a groin injury that has kept him out of training for the last six weeks.
Concerns surrounding the status of Wilshere, who has endured a fair share of ankle and foot injuries throughout his career, came to a head after the expiration of the six-to-seven week timeline originally outlined for his return.
But Arsenal spoke to England manager Roy Hodgson earlier this week and he’s been assured Wilshere is recovering well. “He has been training with the first team for a while,” Hodgson said. “I have spoken to Arsene [Wenger] and they have been holding him back simply because they don’t want to push him too early.”
While depending on Arsenal’s training staff has become an exercise of patience in recent years, there is little need for the club to rush back the 22-year-old due to the Gunners’ current Top 4 prognosis.
A given to make Hodgson’s team for Brazil assuming a full return to health, Wilshere will be hard pressed to crack the Three Lions’ starting lineup during the 2014 World Cup.
If Hodgson favors a more attacking 4-4-2 formation with a diamond midfield, that would likely be anchored by Steven Gerrard and supported by an in-form attacking trio of Adam Lallana, Jordan Henderson and Raheem Sterling, making Wilshere a likely substitute candidate. A more defensive approach, however, would be favorable to Wilshere’s starting prospectus pairing the Arsenal man alongside Gerrard behind a three man attacking midfield and a single striker.