Jack Wilshere has sought to highlight his professionalism by posting a video of himself working hard in training, after becoming embroiled in his latest smoking controversy – an indiscretion that has infuriated the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger.
Wilshere was pictured holding a shisha pipe at a London nightclub, having been photographed smoking on two previous occasions. Wenger and the assistant manager, Steve Bould, berated him for those earlier incidents and they will do so again.
Wilshere took to Instagram to show himself going through a succession of drills as he recovers from ankle surgery, along with the message: “Worry about your character not your reputation, because your character is who you are and your reputation is only what people who don’t know you think about you!”
It is possible that Wilshere will be fined by Arsenal, although the notion of a £100,000-a-week footballer being forced to part with a tiny fraction of his wage feels like nothing more than a footnote.
What has bothered the Arsenal management is the image that Wilshere unwittingly sent out – baseball cap on back to front and posing with three women and the shisha. They have stressed to him that he did not look like the hungry young professional who was fighting to regain fitness after injury.
Wilshere has apologised for the previous smoking incidents – the first outside a London nightclub in October 2013 and the second at a Las Vegas pool party last summer.
Speaking in July, Wilshere said: “The smoking? Of course I regret it. I have been seen before doing it. I said then I made a mistake and I have made a mistake again. People make mistakes. I am young and I will learn from it. I realise the consequences it has and the effect on kids growing up.
“I have kids myself and I don’t want them growing up to think their dad smokes and it is OK for a footballer to smoke, because it’s not. It is unacceptable and I will accept the consequences and I will move on.”
However, the Arsenal management are annoyed because they know that people can say sorry only so many times. They have wondered when the 23-year-old is going to learn.
Wenger has made plain his views on the subject of smoking and he reiterated them last month after his goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny lit up in the showers after the 2-0 defeat at Southampton.
“Players here are judged on their performances,” Wenger said. “Ideally, the best way to have a high level of performance as possible is to follow the rules that allow you to perform. Human beings are human beings, with their strengths and weaknesses. We know this is not good. Overall, these players are professional.”
The manager said that Wilshere, who has not played since late November when he underwent ankle ligament surgery, would return to full training on Sunday and the hope remains that the midfielder can play again before the end of the month.