Wilshere 'cried all the way home' after missing out on tournament award, says Afobe

Bournemouth striker Benik Afobe has revealed that Jack Wilshere “cried all the way home” after missing out on a player of the tournament award when he was 11 years old.

Afobe left Arsenal after more than a decade in January 2015 but has since been reunited with his best friend Wilshere at Bournemouth following a season-long loan move to give him more game time.

Afobe, who has pulled out of the Africa Cup of Nations to stay with the Cherries, played with Wilshere through all stages of Arsenal's academy system and reminisced on one particular memory at an international tournament in Belgium.

“I was 11 but playing a year up in Jack’s team. He was captain but I remember us having so many arguments because he was so greedy, even though now everyone thinks of him as a creative player!”, Afobe told Bournemouth’s matchday programme ahead of his side's Premier League clash with Arsenal on Tuesday.

“We called him the wriggler because he used to get the ball from the centre-half and just dribble the ball as far as he could, going past four or five players.

“We played in a tournament in Genk and players like Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley were there, a lot who have made the grade. We got to the final and Jack was favourite to get player of the tournament - but he got sent off in the first ten minutes!”

“That meant they didn’t give the award to him so he cried the whole way home. I was lucky enough to get top goal scorer, ahead of some good players.”

Bournemouth play host to Arsenal on the back of a 3-0 victory over Swansea City in their last outing, whereas the Gunners are looking for their third league win in a row at the Vitality Stadium.