Roy Keane’s extremely accurate opinion about Jack Wilshere

o·ver·rate
/ōvərˈrāt/

verb
past tense: overrated; past participle: overrated

have a higher opinion of (someone or something) than is deserved.
“dismissing the work as pompous and overrated”

synonyms
overestimate, overvalue, think too much of, attach too much importance to, praise too highly
“I think his music is overrated”

“You look for your senior players to lead by example…when Wilshere is your captain, to me, he is probably the most overrated player on the planet.”

Jack Wilshere’s career at Arsenal has largely been one of early promise followed by devastating injuries, extended rehabilitations, and continued rediscoveries of form. He’s 26 years old, and the player who once had pace has slowed to a considerable trot as others around him who haven’t had the misfortune of various leg problems glide with ease around his presence. He’s featured a few times behind the front line this season and has largely suffered from that specific role due to the fact he’s not as quick and mobile as he once was, that the game has changed around him yet he’s still trying to recapture the highs of his youth.

This is not a knock or an indictment of who he is as a player or person. He’s still an above-average passer of the ball, so there’s certainly room for him within the squad in a role best suited for what talents he brings to the club. He is, however, not the nimble, smooth player that broke into the club eight years ago. But don’t try telling many Arsenal fans this.

It’s because of this “romanticism” of Jack Wilshere - the kid who joined Arsenal as a 9 year-old and was tipped to one day become England’s midfield soul and captain - that clouds the thinking of supporters who reach to find, then loudly promote glimmers of hope in his game that allows seasoned blowhards like Roy Keane to accurately state that Jack Wilshere is the most overrated player in the world. Many, including Arsene Wenger, are up in arms today over Keane’s comments, but the accuracy in them stems from the direct hit they made towards the attitude that Wilshere’s the key missing piece to Arsenal rather than the niche player he probably is today.

Having Jack Wilshere is better, overall to the club, than not. This isn’t about whether the club would be best-suited to selling or releasing him. What’s been the case surrounding Wilshere the past few months is the value he brings to Arsenal. And that’s been so epically blown out of proportion that leads up to suggestions he should feature as a right winger this weekend in the Carabao Cup final versus Manchester City, when all available evidence about who he is now as a player would say that is an incredibly awful idea. All of this ends up coming to a head in the form of Keane’s incendiary comment yesterday.

In other words, Roy Keane is a button-pushing antagonist who so happens to be right about Jack Wilshere. Sorry, but that’s the truth.