Wilshere: 'I would have stayed if Arsene stayed'

Wilshere came through the academy at Arsenal, but ended a 17-year relationship with the club when he signed for West Ham in the previous transfer window. 

"If Arsene had stayed I would have stayed because of the influence he had in my career and the trust he had in me. He gave me the armband and respected me a lot," he told the 'Islington Gazette'.

"So, I had pretty much agreed to stay. And then he left and that changed things.

"Arsene had said to me previously 'stay and fight your way back into the team' – because I knew Arsene and knew he had trust in me, I knew I could do that and fight my way into the team.

"I knew that if I got myself fit and was training well that Arsene would put me in – and he did.

"But things were changing at the club and they were going into a new era and maybe it was time for me to leave as well."