Arsenal's Wilshere Set For England Fast-Track?

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshire’s performances in the Carling Cup this season look like propelling the young Gunner into the England Under-21 squad that travels to Sweden next year for the European Championships.

16-year-old, Wilshere had been watched by an England scout in last months 6-0 drubbing of Sheffield United in the Carling Cup. England manager Fabio Capello along with his assistant Franco Baldini and Under-21 boss Stuart Pearce were all in attendance at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday to see the young starlet put in a man of the match performance against Wigan Athletic in the North London clubs 3-0 win, which put them through to the quarter finals of the Carling Cup.

The attendance of all the main players in the England management set-up at the Emirates has heightened speculation that Wilshere, who has been hailed as the “New Gazza’ in some quarters is to be fast-tracked into the full International set-up and taken to the EURO’s with the Under-21’s next summer.

Wilshere has already been capped by England at Under-16 and Under-17, with the youngster only recently returning from a training camp in Tenerife for the Under-17 squad before his five star performance humbled the Latics on Tuesday.

Wilshere will not be able to sign his first professional contract until he turns 17 next January, but looks set for a glittering career in the Premier League and with England. Gunners boss Arsene Wenger compared Wilshere to Spanish International Cesc Fabregas after the win against Wigan, with the Frenchman nurturing Fabregas from a 16-year-old arriving from Barcelona five years ago into one of the best and most sought after midfielder’s in Europe that he is today.

Should Wilshere’s progression take a similar path to the one of Fabregas under the guidance of Wenger, then a regular starting place for both club and country is surely not to far off the horizon for the latest young talent to emerge from the Emirates conveyer belt.