Arsène Wenger has likened his emerging teenage talent Jack Wilshere to a young Wayne Rooney, although the Arsenal manager insisted that supporters should not get carried away and expect too much, too soon from him.
Wilshere, 17, has enjoyed an eye-catching pre-season in which he was man of the match in both of the club's Emirates Cup games last weekend, against Atlético Madrid and Rangers. The attacking midfielder scored twice against the Scottish champions, the second a stunning half-volley.
"I believe what is good in Jack's case," said Wenger, "[is] he reminds me a bit of Rooney when he started, in his belief and in his positive attitude to go forward. still has a lot to learn, team-wise and in his relationship with other players but there are some great basics there. You do not want him to be a star before he has delivered, though, and managing expectation levels is harder here than anywhere else."
Wilshere is part of an array of attacking talent at Arsenal, which may yet be swelled by the addition of the Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh. He is desperate to complete what he describes as a "dream" move to the Emirates, only for his club to have placed a prohibitive £15m price on his head, and Chamakh might have winced when he heard Wenger say that "we have an interest in him but he is rated far too high for us".
Wenger also said that there had been no movement in relation to his interest in Internazionale's Patrick Vieira, the former Arsenal captain, as he predicted that transfer activity would ramp up during the final week of the summer window.
Wenger did suggest Phillipe Senderos would be allowed to join Everton and that he might then be in the market for another central defender. Fulham's Brede Hangeland is one of his targets.
"Senderos has an opportunity to go because he has only one year left on his contract," said Wenger, who confirmed that the luckless midfielder Tomas Rosicky was out for six weeks with a muscle strain. "We have had a look at Hangeland, although we have not contacted Fulham or the player."
