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Former England star Jack Wilshere will attempt to get his stalled career moving again after signing for Danish side AGF.
The 30-year-old is joining the Aarhus-based team on a short-term deal initially, but an option to extend that contract by one year exists, with Wilshere desperate to prove himself after falling off the footballing map.
Arsenal favourite Wilshere, who began his career with the Gunners and helped the club win the FA Cup twice, has been without a team since leaving Bournemouth at the end of last season.
He was a teenage wonder with Arsenal, making his debut as a 16-year-old playmaker in 2008, but injuries have blighted his career in recent years. Recently, he has been training with Arsenal in an effort to build up his fitness.
AGF sit seventh in the 12-team Superligaen, and their director of football is former Liverpool left-back Stig Inge Bjornebye.
Wilshere, handed the number 10 shirt, 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.
“I’m physically in really good shape and I feel fit, so now for me it’s about getting into the squad and see if I can earn some playing time for the club and contribute to get some wins.”
Wilshere will begin training with AGF on Monday, the club said on their website.
Bjornebye said: “Jack needs no further presentation and he has shown his worth on both club and national level over the past 10 years.
“So when the opportunity arose to get him here to Aarhus, we had no doubt that we would like to pursue it. Jack can contribute with his excellent technique and his eye for the game and he will give us some extra offensive tools.
“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 made 125 Premier League appearances for Arsenal, spread across nine seasons, scoring seven goals and having 14 assists.
He also played 22 Champions League games for the north London side, netting four goals and managing four assists, and went on to have a frustrating two-year stint with West Ham, that ended in October 2020.
Wilshere was Arsenal’s player of the season in 2010-11, and the Professional Footballers’ Association’s young player of the year for the same campaign.
For England, he has won 34 caps, last featuring in the famous defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016.
