Wilshere will be better than ever, says Wenger

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is in no doubt midfielder Jack Wilshere will return a “better player” from his 14-month injury hell.

The England international finally returned to full training on Thursday after a niggling ankle injury sidelined him for the whole of last season.

Wenger will take no chances with the 20-year-old, who is likely to have a few reserve outings before being considered for first-team action.

But he sees no reason to feel Wilshere’s lay-off will have any long-term impact on his stature as one of the nation’s brightest young talents.

“Jack will be a better player,” Wenger said. “If you have this kind of injury at the age of 20, you will take off again and move forward normally.

“If you have the injury after the age of 25 it is different. At his age, it is no problem.”

However, Wenger warned against expecting too much too soon.

“After three months of competition, for sure he would be back. It takes some while to find the little burst again,” he added.

The Gunners head to Premier League champions Manchester City tomorrow looking to maintain their positive start to the new season, which earlier this week saw them record a 2-1 Champions League win in Montpellier.

While Arsenal continue to battle to compete with City and their big-spending rivals on the pitch, Wenger fears clubs will continue to look to exploit loopholes in Uefa’s financial fair play regulations.

Paris Saint-Germain are reportedly in talks with a Qatari bank over a sponsorship deal worth £80m (€100m) per season, while last year City agreed a long-term £400m (€500m) sponsorship deal with Etihad Airways.

With these figures way over expected normal market values, Wenger feels they fly in the face of what the regulations are trying to combat.

“If the sponsorship deals are just a way of getting round financial fair play, then it’s not financial fair play,” he said. “It makes the system worse for me because that would mean it makes a mockery of the financial fair play.”

Nevertheless Wenger believes any discrepancies in funding could not be used as an excuse if things go wrong on the pitch.

“Anyway, we have to beat them no matter how it works. That’s our target and, for me, it’s not an excuse,” he said. “There’s room for us and that’s what we want to show.”

Arsenal certainly head to the Etihad Stadium with more confidence than last December, when they performed admirably but went down 1-0.

“We are in a better position,” said Wenger, who again must do without goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny because of an ankle problem.

“We have a good consistency, some results behind us and the confidence level is quite good.”

Combative midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong is also closing in on a return for the Gunners, having been sidelined by a serious knee injury suffered while on loan at Wolves in February.

Wenger feels the Gunners can head to the Etihad Stadium in confident mood, and does not expect the Blues’ late defeat at Real Madrid to play a major impact.

“I expect them to be focused and play well, but it was a disappointment for them of course. It always takes a little bit away from you,” he said.

“If we are at our best I think we have a great chance to get a good result there.”