Jack Wilshere is scheduled to return to full training at Arsenal next week, with Arsène Wenger fighting to rein in the midfielder's exuberance and his desperation to make a prompt playing comeback.

The 20-year-old is determined to feature in the Champions League last-16 first-leg tie away to Milan on 15 February and, ideally, one or two matches before that, and he is eager to help his team-mates, after their stuttering start to 2012. Arsenal have lost both of their Premier League fixtures, away at Fulham and Swansea City, to temper the optimism that had built towards the turn of the year.

Wilshere has not played all season, because of a stress fracture to his ankle, which stemmed from a problem he suffered as a 16-year-old and he has not only been a frustrated spectator. His rehabilitation has been pockmarked by set-backs, which have tested his patience and faith, but he is now primed to enter the final phase, having astonished the club's medics with his progress. When he underwent surgery at the end of September, they could not envisage him returning before March, even though Wenger hoped it would be mid-to-late February. The manager has, more recently, brought that estimate forward. The medics have found themselves under pressure. But they have come to consider Wilshere as a "medical miracle," because of how quickly his body has healed.

What has cheered them most is that the bone, or the injury site, is clear and there is little risk of related muscular problems. But caution in the final stretch will be the watchword, as Wilshere prepares to reintegrate work with the ball in training after the team's home fixture against Manchester United on Sunday. He has been running and working tirelessly in the gym for some weeks. Wilshere requires at least two further weeks of conditioning before he will be considered for selection and Wenger will also need to be wary of the player's high pain threshold and his capacity to play on in spite of discomfort. Wilshere has regularly demonstrated this admirable trait in the past and it was, arguably, a factor in the injury.

Wenger has made it clear that he does not intend to strengthen his squad in January any further than the short-term loan acquisition of Thierry Henry from New York Red Bulls and so Wilshere has come to resemble a star new signing in waiting. There will be pressure on him to cure the team's ills instantly, which feels unfair, but he is ready to embrace it while Wenger might also be confronted by a selection headache, in terms of which of his existing midfield trio he would have to omit. Aaron Ramsey appears most at risk, given that he has occupied the more advanced role that had been earmarked for Wilshere but the Wales captain can also play deeper, where Mikel Arteta and Alex Song have formed a partnership. Arteta's understated influence was missed in the 3-2 loss at Swansea on Sunday.

Wenger hopes Henry can shake off a calf injury that he picked up in training in time to face United. The striker scored on his return to the club in the 1-0 FA Cup win over Leeds United last week and came off the bench in Sunday's defeat to Swansea.