Jack Wilshere’s hopes of reviving his Arsenal career have receded following Arsene Wenger’s admission the midfielder could be allowed to leave the club before the end of this month.

The England international is one of a number of players at the Emirates Stadium entering the final season of their contract but while Wenger remains adamant Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, among others, will not be allowed to leave before the end of their current deals, the manager – who insists he has the full support of his board to decide on squad matters - has adopted a markedly different stance with Wilshere.

The 25-year-old is back at the club after a season-long loan at Bournemouth he hoped would allow him to regain full fitness after a number of injury-scarred seasons.

A broken leg, however, sustained at Tottenham Hotspur in April, has hampered the player’s hopes of making an impression during pre-season.

Wilshere has been forced to focus on his rehabilitation, only returning to full training last week, ensuring he remains on the fringes ahead of Sunday’s Community Shield meeting with Chelsea at Wembley.

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Wilshere has attracted interest from Sampdoria and West Ham United this summer but the player has indicated he would like to stay at the club he has been associated with since the age of nine.

Wenger, though, acknowledged the player’s future remains uncertain and if Wilshere is to stay, he must convince the manager of his form and fitness in the remaining weeks before the end of the transfer window.

“That decision is not completely made,” said the manager, when asked if Wilshere will stay. “I want him to have a chance to play somewhere as well. We have to decide that a bit later. I wanted first him to come back, he is coming out of a fracture. It is the first week he is back in full training and we have to sit down together and see where we go from there.”

Wilshere broke his leg while on loan at Bournemouth last season

Having guided the player through the early years of his career, Wenger acknowledges that could be a difficult conversation to have.

While admitting an in-form Wilshere could still force his way into his team, the manager points to the barrier confronting a player who has been repeatedly affected by fitness problems.

Wenger settled on a preferred midfield pairing of Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey at the end of last season with Mohamed Elneny and Francis Coquelin as back-up. Santi Cazorla, when he finally recovers fitness, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also provide options and it is clear the manager requires Wilshere to demonstrate he can offer something more on a consistent level.

Arsene Wenger has some tough decisions to make

“I gave him a start at a very young age,” he said. “He has gone through difficult times, I want him to have the career he can have and I am quite open on that. He has the talent to be regular, but he has to come back to competition in a consistent way.”

Wenger has welcomed the FA’s decision to introduce retrospective action for diving this season. “I’m a big fan,” he said.

“Because you want to get the cheating out of the game as much as you can and I would say you have to respect for the fans who pay money. They come to watch football, not to come to watch people who dive. They want to see the game. We demand a lot of money from our fans now so we want to make the game as clean and fluent as possible.”