‘I’m so shocked’: Pundit tips Arsenal to sign ‘absolutely brilliant’ free transfer

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Ray Parlour has called on Arsenal to sign Jack Wilshere as a free agent following their January transfer window.

Despite plenty of speculation, Arsenal failed to sign a single player during the winter window.

The Gunners looked poised at one stage to sign Juventus midfielder Arthur Melo on a half-season loan but that deal – and a separate one for Dusan Vlahovic – never materialised.

The Emirates Stadium outfit wound up either loaning out or terminating the contracts of senior players at various stages throughout out January – including Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who joined Roma in Italy.

Arsenal needed a midfielder even before Maitland-Niles’ departure, meaning that their failure to find one represents awful planning by the North Londoners.

However, a certain Wilshere has been training with Mikel Arteta’s senior side in recent months, as he tries to maintain his fitness in pursuit of a new club.

And Parlour has told talkSPORT that Arsenal’s failure to sign anybody in January means that the 30-year-old midfielder should be considered a genuine opportunity, adding that he’s ‘shocked’ that nobody else has snapped him up yet.

He said: “He’s training with them every day now. I don’t think he’d be used, if I’m being honest. But if there was a massive injury crisis, you never know in football what can happen. You could get two or three midfield players injured.

“If he thinks he’s competitive enough, because we all know what a player he was, Jack, absolutely brilliant. I’m so shocked that he hasn’t got a club if I’m honest, at his age, because I’m sure he can bring a lot to different clubs.”

Logical

Honestly, it makes sense for Arsenal to sign Wilshere on a short-term contract.

He is nowhere near as influential as the player he once was, the midfielder who bossed the likes of Xavi and Andres Iniesta way back when.

However, he is clearly more than good enough to help out the Gunners until the summer, when Arteta and Edu can bolster the playing staff with a more long-term option.