West Ham Star Has Cost The Club £650k Per Game So Far But Has He Finally Turned A Corner?

West Ham Star Has Cost The Club £650k Per Game So Far But Has He Finally Turned A Corner?

It was a nightmare first season for Jack Wilshere at West Ham, there can be no hiding from that, but there were signs of light at the end of the tunnel on the club’s pre-season tour in China.

For many fans and pundits, he was the best player on the pitch during the game against Manchester City, and he performed pretty well versus Newcastle as well.

You can clearly see that Wilshere has put in the hard yards during the summer and has come into preseason absolutely determined to make sure he stays fit during his second campaign with the club.

There are still huge question marks, though, over whether he can stay fit. He will be hoping that his body doesn’t fail him again but since signing a three-year contract, worth £100,000 a week, last July, he has played just eight times.



Wilshere has cost the Hammers £650,000 per game so far, and the club have yet to see any return on their investment. It was always a risky decision that manager Manuel Pellegrini made to sign him last summer.

He was coming off the back of a season with Arsenal where he had stayed fit for the most part, but a loan spell the previous season with Bournemouth saw him suffer a fractured calf bone.

Before that, he suffered a similar injury in the 2015/16 campaign, while he broke his ankle in the 2014/15 season. In the 2013/14 season, he had a hairline fracture in the foot, while he suffered a serious knee injury that kept him out for the whole 2011/12 campaign.

It’s a very long record of his body demonstrating that it is unable to take the strain of professional football. It’s only natural, then, to fear another injury at some point in the near future.

For Wilshere’s sake, though, everyone will be keeping their finger’s crossed that this time around things will be different. He has clearly done everything he can during the off-season to strengthen his body and give his all for the Hammers.

If, and it is a BIG if, he can stay fit, he could have a place in what is looking like a very exciting midfield. The likes of Pablo Fornals, Manuel Lanzini, Felipe Anderson and Wilshere all have excellent technical ability and should be capable of some superb passing interchanges.

Whether the former Gunner will be part of West Ham’s exciting future, only time will tell. Let’s hope his promising preseason leads to something more, and he begins to repay his sizeable salary.