Jack Wilshere credits Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta’s influence after being named new Luton manager | OneFootball

Former Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere praised Gunners boss Mikel Arteta for the guidance he has given him after being named as Luton Town’s new manager.

Wilshere has been named as Matt Bloomfield’s replacement at Kenilworth Road, his first ever permanent senior managerial role.

The 33-year-old was previously head coach of Arsenal’s Under-18 side and says Arteta, who was also his former team-mate during their time at the club, has helped him a lot.

Wilshere explained: “It was about maybe a year ago or something, I said to him, Mikel, when did you know you were ready? And he laughed. He said, you just have to jump in and swim as hard as you can and he’s obviously done that really well and I was close to that.

“This feels a little bit similar to that, of course it’s a different level, but when Mikel went in, it wasn’t a nice place at Arsenal. The fans were not sure what was happening and what he’d done was, he built a complete unity, a complete trust in what he was doing and a very family (feel).

“And that’s it, getting people to believe and convincing them. Yeah, Mikel was good at that and there’s definitely things I’ll take from him on his journey.

“I was lucky that I was close to him but there used to be times, and probably because of our relationship, I’m not sure it’s that normal that an under-18 manager can go into the head coach’s office. But yeah, he was great and he still will be.”

Wilshere won two FA Cups with Arsenal as a player and played 197 times for the club.

But he says he does not want his playing career to be associated with his coaching one.

“I’ve said before many times that I don’t want people to think about my playing career,” he said.

“There’s many things that I can use from my playing career, my experiences with different coaches, good, bad, and try and make me the coach I am today.

“But the first week at Arsenal when I was there with the 18s, I quickly realised that this is something that I’m going to have to get better at. Being a good player doesn’t make you a good coach. There’s many things that are quite different and you have to understand that.”