Arsenal are set to receive an offer for Jack Wilshere from Manchester City. Manuel Pellegrini has reportedly turned his attentions to Wilshere after failing with a £40million bid for Raheem Sterling.
City are expected to open with an offer of around £30million – an offer that Arsenal will certainly reject. However could City’s desperation for English players see them make a ridiculous second offer that the Gunners cannot afford to turn down?
I’d only consider accepting if the value of any offer exceeded £50million. I wonder how much they would be willing to offer – after all, can you really turn down £50million for a player who is currently a sub?
It’s tough – but Arsenal don’t need money and we need to keep heading towards our goal of becoming an elite club, selling Wilshere to a title rival would not do that.
What might tempt Wenger is if City added one of their own players into a deal. The likes of Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic are viewed as dispensable by Pellegrini and both players are long term targets for Arsenal. The Gunners are in the market for a striker and a bid of Dzeko plus £30million could tempt Wenger.
Wilshere may struggle to get back into the first team at Arsenal, especially as the club are currently looking to sign another central midfielder. The 23 year old is yet to find his best position and Wenger would surely be tempted by a large bid, especially if it meant spending the money raised in areas that require attention.
Arsenal can live without Wilshere, at the moment it would seem like no great loss. £40million+ could buy us a world class striker, someone like Karim Benzema. Would we rather have Wilshere or Benzema in the squad? When you put it like that it makes you think.
Manchester City are desperate to sign some young homegrown talent, and their £40million bid for Sterling, a player who has not had the best of seasons and has only one year remaining on his contract – shows just how great their desire is to bring in English talent.
Sterling has made it clear he wants to leave Liverpool, whilst Wilshere is very happy to stay put. City are much more likely to be successful with a bid for the want-away Sterling rather than pursue a content Wilshere.
I don’t want to see Wilshere in another shirt, especially another Premier League shirt – but what amount, if any, would it take for you to be happy to see him join City? Comment below with your thoughts.