Friday 9 September 2016 12:04, UK
Arsene Wenger says he wants "world class" Jack Wilshere to spend his whole career at Arsenal, despite loaning him to Bournemouth.
Wilshere left before the transfer deadline on a season-long loan after failing to make the starting line-up in each of Arsenal's first three Premier League games.
But speaking at his press conference ahead of Saturday's meeting with Southampton, Wenger made it clear he sees the England star's long-term future at the Emirates.
He said: "I hope personally that [Wilshere] stays his whole career here. Jack is a world-class player. He doesn't have to show me he has the quality to play at Bournemouth, he just needs to be back at a competitive level."
Injuries restricted Wilshere to just three appearances last season, and he missed five months of the previous campaign.
And the competition for places in a midfield strengthened by the arrivals of Granit Xhaka and - in January - Mohamed Elneny meant Wenger could not give the 24-year-old the assurances he sought over playing time.
"We had a chat together and he himself was concerned that he would not get enough competition early enough," Wenger said. "He feels ready to play, and I couldn't guarantee that.
"We thought it was a decision that looked logical to give him time to come back to a competitive level. At some stage you need competition.
"The challenge for Jack is to play the games. He wanted games and I can understand his desire. I felt it was logical - let's not forget last year he didn't play. You cannot be out for two seasons and then want to be at the top level. It's important he gets the number of games this season."
Wenger has two more new arrivals in contention for debuts against Saints, having brought in Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez ahead of the deadline.
"They are not 19/20-year-old players and the whole squad is quite mature," Wenger said. "It's the first time for quite a while that I have a whole squad full of men ready to compete."
And Wenger will have the confidence to use his squad at the weekend, with Alexis Sanchez in need of assessment after a late return from South America and Tuesday's Champions League trip to Paris Saint-Germain in mind.
He said: "Maybe we'll rest a few because we have a game on Tuesday but when you have a big squad it is easy."
