Sign up to FREE email alerts from Mirror - Arsenal FC Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

It came with the obvious caveat, but Xavi could not have been more emphatic.

“I see Wilshere as the future of English football. I have played against him. I have watched him carefully … he can go on and be one of the best midfield players in the word.

“With all respect, he does not play the English way.”

Xavi knows a thing or two.

And that is why Roy Hodgson would be absolutely right to take Wilshere to the Euro 2016 finals, even if he does not play a game for Arsenal this season. Wilshere has nothing to prove to Hodgson, but his health.

Prior to Xavi’s remarks – made in November – Wilshere had not played for four months and has not played since.

(Image: David Rogers)

He cracked a fibula in a ­collision in pre-season training and is making his slow progress in his 13th recovery in eight seasons as a professional.

Arsenal are not giving a date for his return, but early next month has been mooted.

However, as long as Wilshere and the Arsenal medical staff can declare him as fully fit to Hodgson on May 12 – the date of the squad announcement – he should be selected.

England’s first match of Euro 2016 is not until June 11 and the squad does not have to be ­finalised until May 31.

The suggestion that Hodgson might pick Wilshere, even if he had not returned to Premier League action, had social media abuzz with indignation.

Yet, if Wilshere presents himself to Hodgson READY to play, that is all that matters.

(Image: Getty) (Image: Getty)

In a 23-man squad, you CAN take a risk and England do have games on May 22 and May 27.

Wilshere has shown before that he can hit the ground running.

When he returned from his previous injury - inflicted by a badly mistimed, dangerous tackle from Paddy McNair – he featured in eight matches for club and country in 40 days, ­culminating in a two-goal, ­man-of-the-match performance in a qualifier against Slovenia.

For all the emergence of young, English midfield talent, Wilshere, at his best, is ahead of the lot.

As Martin Keown remarked recently: “He can play anywhere in the midfield and he always wants the ball. Jack can do everything - he can drive past players and also pick out team-mates from deep.”

(Image: Getty)

Wilshere gets knocked because he has spent an inordinate amount of time in the treatment room, but a lot of his problems were the result of physical impact. Maybe he is brittle, but he is also unlucky.

There might well be another setback in his latest, drawn-out rehabilitation and if there is, it will be huge setback for Hodgson and England, but they have been without him for a while now and have dealt with it.

It would still be a setback, though.

Wilshere has made some mistakes and been in situations that have given his detractors a fair bit of ammunition.

But if anyone believes he should not go to Euro 2016 - providing he is healthy - they should give Xavi call.

He knows a thing or two.

In pictures - Germany vs England: