Wenger waits patiently for Wilshere

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger will carefully manage the fitness of Jack Wilshere to avoid the heart being ripped from of his midfield following the news Abou Diaby was set for nine months out with a knee injury.

Wilshere is currently recovering from an ankle problem which has sidelined him since the defeat at Tottenham on March 3, meaning he missed both Arsenal’s Champions League win in Bayern Munich as well as both of England’s games against San Marino and Montenegro.

Diaby, meanwhile, will now be out for the best part of a year after it was yesterday confirmed the France international had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during training.

Wenger knows Wilshere’s rehabilitation must be closely monitored, the midfielder having himself only returned to action this season after spending more than 12 months on the sidelines.

“Jack will start his first run outside on Monday and six days that will be too short (for the trip to West Brom),” said Wenger, who will also be without England forward Theo Walcott, who picked up a pelvic problem on international duty, for Saturday’s visit of relegation battlers Reading.

“Jack has been out for four weeks on Monday. He works very hard inside in the gym, but it is not the same.

“If we lose Jack, then we quickly are short in central midfield.”

Wenger added: “Wilshere’s injury is not better or worse. It was an inflammation of his [ankle] bone and we had such history with him [that] we are a bit more cautious than we would be with you or with me.

“We will rest him when it is needed. He has regular scans and as soon as we have an alert we will respect it no matter what is at stake.”

Diaby’s latest injury setback is another blow for the combative France midfielder, labelled as “special” by Wenger yesterday, but who has been plagued by a series of fitness issues which have hampered his progress since joining from Auxerre in 2006 .

“Following consultations with specialists, Abou will undergo surgery to repair the injury in the near future. Abou is expected to be out for around eight to nine months,” a club statement read.

England drew 1-1 with Montenegro on Tuesday and Wenger feels if more top-flight teams had a similar English core, the job of the national manager would take on a different dimension.

“The Spain national team is built on two clubs, if we can have four, five or six (England players) at one club, it will become a massive advantage for England. At the moment, all of these players are spread everywhere,” he said.

“To look like a good team, you have moments like that where you play well for one half, then suddenly something disappears and you have no team anymore, because the players come from too many clubs.”

Arsenal’s youngsters, meanwhile, have reached the final stage of the NextGen Series, to be held in Lake Como, Italy, where they will meet Chelsea after beating CSKA Moscow.

Wenger believes he has the core with a “potential” to compete at the highest level.

“We have good young English players – we have five English players in the national team,” he said.

“In the Champions League we have no English team in the quarter-final, but in the NextGen, you have three English teams in the semi-final – Aston Villa, Chelsea and Arsenal, so that shows that the future looks quite bright for us.”