Jack Wilshere has joined Danish side Aarhus on a short-term deal until the end of the season.There is a one-year option to extend Wilshere’s contract in the summer.The former Arsenal midfielder has been without a team since his release from Championship club Bournemouth at the end of the last season.On signing for his new club, Wilshere, 30, said: “Since I started training with Arsenal, I have never hidden the fact that it was to be ready for 2022 and for a new club.“Now the right club is here, and it will be an exciting new challenge for me. I am in a place in my career where I need to get started again after a difficult period and that opportunity has AGF offered me. For that, I am very grateful, and I will do everything I can to live up to the expectations.”Wilshere had been training with Arsenal as recently as last week. Manager Mikel Arteta ruled out bringing the Wilshere back to the club, but spoke positively about the former England international’s influence around the training ground as he worked towards his coaching badges.In November, Wilshere did admit that he had considered retiring but added he thought he still had something to offer.“I 100 per cent think I can still play,” Wilshere said.“But I am almost at the point where I think something different, abroad, might be beneficial to me.” Wilshere came through the ranks at Arsenal, bursting onto the scene as a promising teenager. He became Arsenal’s youngest-ever Premier League debutant when he appeared for the club against Blackburn Rovers in September 2008.Injuries, however, blighted Wilshere’s career and restricted him to just 125 league appearances for Arsenal in 10 years. He joined Bournemouth on loan during the 2016-17 season, before leaving Arsenal for West Ham United in 2018.However, Wilshere made just 19 appearances at West Ham, before rejoining Bournemouth on a short-term deal last January.Aarhus sit seventh in the Danish Superliga, four points behind Randers in the sixth and final Championship play-off spot.Their next game is away at bottom of the table Vejle BK on Friday evening.“Jack can contribute with his excellent technique and his eye for the game and he will give us some extra offensive tools,” added Aarhus director of football, Stig Inge Bjornebye.“He is in good physical shape, but obviously lacks some game fitness. But that will soon come, and we look forward to seeing him in the white jersey, when he has settled in.” Wilshere will wear the No 10 shirt at Aarhus, the same number he wore for many years at Arsenal.
