Jack Wilshere admits surgeons were worried he wouldn’t ‘walk again’ after injury at the age of 19
Jack Wilshere talks about his injury-plagued career and tells Ben Foster that a surgeon was SHOCKED he was still playing after treatment notes suggested he ‘may not be able to walk again’
- Jack Wilshere has revealed the true extent of the injuries that have plagued his career
- The Englishman made the decision to stop playing football at the age of 30
- And has explained how an ankle injury caused problems early in his career
Jack Wilshere has explained how the first injury of his pro career wreaked havoc on the rest of his playing days with surgeons shocked he could continue playing.
The Englishman retired from football aged 30 last year after a torrid, injury-plagued career that saw him go from being one of Arsenal’s brightest talents to playing his final days as a professional with Danish side Aarhus.
Wilshere was hampered by a series of high-profile injuries throughout his career, often struggling with ankle problems and never regaining the form he took the stage with.
Wilshere, who now works as Arsenal Men’s Under 18 head coach, explained that a fractured ankle at the age of 19 hampered him years later.
“My first injury was my worst and I paid a lot for that. It was my right ankle it was like the talus which is basically you have your fib and then this little bone that sits on top of your fib and your ankle joint and I broke that,” he told Ben Foster on The Foxcast.
Jack Wilshere has opened up about the worrying injuries that have plagued his professional career
“I went to the specialist surgeon and he said, ‘I’ve never seen that before. We’ve seen it in one person.’ It was a snowboarder, you can imagine their ankles locked up and they can bend it like that.
“So they brought in another guy, a specialist to do the surgery, and I didn’t know this until a few years later, so I went back then, it must have been about six years later. I was 25 and went back to see the surgeon and he was like “oh you’re still playing?”.
Wilshere became Arsenal’s youngest league debutant in 2008 aged just 16, and just three years later delivered a Champions League performance against Barcelona that sent the rest of Europe in the red.
However, seven years later he found himself shown the Emirates exit as his boyhood club finally resigned itself to the fact that Wilshere would not live up to his potential, largely due to repeated injuries.
Spells at West Ham, Bournemouth and Aarhus followed before the midfielder finally made the decision to end his playing career.
Wilshere made the decision to retire from playing last year at the premature age of 30
However, by Wilshere’s recent admission, it’s a surprise that he ever managed to keep going into his 20s after the surgeon who operated on his original ankle fracture told of initial fears he wouldn’t be able to walk.
Wilshere added: ‘Him [the surgeon] showed me the notes from the surgery and it was like yes might not play again, might not be able to walk.
“I didn’t know that, I think it might have been a good thing. So I put two pins in it yes.
“But then I paid the price. It never moved the same, so then it obviously affects your knees.”
