Wilshere - To bounce back would be massive

The 29-year-old midfielder was speaking recently at a virtual event held by Bournemouth University, for its multimedia journalism students.

Wilshere, who re-joined the Cherries for a second spell in January, stated it is both his own and his team-mates’ desire to ‘bounce back’ to the Premier League this campaign.

“We’ve got a team here that I think could compete in the Premier League in terms of individual players,” he said.

“We’ve got some unbelievable talents here who should be playing higher, and I know that they would want to do that in a club like Bournemouth. I’d certainly like to do it with Bournemouth again.

“Last season was a strange season for everyone with Covid and what everyone went through and I think Bournemouth were probably a bit unlucky to be relegated. To bounce back would be massive I know for the club but as well for the players and for myself.”

Since returning to the club Wilshere has made eleven appearances, scoring two goals. This period has coincided with the first time in his career that he has played in English football’s second tier.

Whilst he acknowledged the different challenges which the Championship poses, Wilshere admitted that he’s ‘really enjoyed’ adapting to the league.

He said: “I’ve really enjoyed it to be honest. I had a spell out for three or four months and that time away really made me realise how much football actually means to me.

“Obviously, I came down here just to train and it turned out to be a little bit more and I was over the moon. I love this place. I love being in Bournemouth.

“I knew it was a different a league and I spoke to people who had played in this league and they told me how demanding it is, but I’ve enjoyed it.

“I like the fact that there’s a lot of games. If you have a bad result or a bad performance you’ve got a game two or three days later to try and put that right.”

This article was written by BU student James Gray, who was a part of the online video conference with the Cherries midfielder, his write-up picked out to feature on afcb.co.uk.