View: Wilshere exit is right for club and for player – West Ham must make it happen
Whichever way you look at it, Jack Wilshere has been a disastrous signing for West Ham.
We’ve got a lot of sympathy for a player whose career has been wrecked by injury, but he’s been pulling a salary of £100k-a-week since he signed in 2018 and it’s time to cut the losses and spend the money elsewhere.
The Times has reported that West Ham are tying to cut a deal with the player that would either see them buy out the rest of his contract – he’s got 12 months left on his current deal – or facilitate a move to another club.
Wilshere is fit and in pre-season training but isn’t in David Moye’s starting XI plans and will only be used as a substitute if he stays.
We thought it was a gamble worth taking at the time but it really hasn’t proved to be the case – he’s only started six times in the Premier League since signing from Arsenal.
He’s still a player that could walk into a number of Premier League sides but how much are clubs willing to pay to take a risk on him given his record?
The other option is to buy out his contract but how much of a cut would he be willing to take when he can just sit on the bench for a year and draw a huge wage?
Perhaps the best option is to let clubs take him on a no-risk deal, whereby they take him for a year but only pay his wages when he’s injury-free.
He will still want to play football and there will be clubs who could benefit from a player who was once seen as the future of England.
That seems like a long time ago now but West Ham should go all out to save as much money as they can – as long as that’s then spent on new players.
In other West Ham news, the club will sell this player if £45million is offered for him.