Arsenal legend Jack Wilshere admits career all-but ended aged just 19 and reveals terrifying warning from surgeon
FORMER Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere has revealed the injury he suffered at 19 that a surgeon feared may have left him unable to walk.
The ex-Gunners star announced his retirement last year at the age of 30.
He was once an England international and one of the country’s brightest talents.
But injuries plagued him throughout his career – which eventually led to Arsenal releasing him in 2018.
Unsuccessful spells with West Ham, Bournemouth and Danish side AGF followed, before he hung up his boots.
Wilshere, 31, still boasts an impressive 34 caps for England, along with 197 appearances for Arsenal.
And he won the FA Cup under Arsene Wenger in 2014 and 2015.
But Wilshere, who made his Arsenal debut aged 16, has now confirmed a serious ankle injury in his teens almost scuppered his career before it had really got going.
Speaking to Wrexham keeper Ben Foster on The Fozcast, he said: “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 fractured that.
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“I went to see the specialist surgeon and he was like ‘I’ve never seen that. We’ve seen it in one person.’
“It was a snowboarder, you could imagine their ankles are locked in and they can bend it like that.
“So they got in another guy, a specialist to do the surgery, and I didn’t know this until a few years later, so I then went back, 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?’.”
It is impressive Wilshere played at the very top level into his mid-20s given the injuries he sustained.
And he later found out the severity of his physical problems had been critical from an incredibly young age.
He added: “He [the surgeon] showed me the notes from the surgery and it was like ‘yeah might not play again, might not be able to walk’.
“I didn’t know that, I think it was maybe a good thing. So I put two pins in it yeah.
“But then I paid the price, it never moved the same so then obviously it affects your knees.”