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

Alexis Sanchez has already paid back his £33million transfer fee with the winner in Arsenal’s tense Champions League qualifier against Besiktas.

But for me, the Gunners’ best player over the two legs was Jack Wilshere - and if nobody else is going to stick up for him, I’ll fight his corner.

Ever since Wilshere was pictured on holiday in Las Vegas, smoking as he lounged around by the pool, it has been open season on one of English football’s brightest talents.

Suddenly, it has become the easiest game in town to jump on the bandwagon, pick holes in Wilshere’s performances for Arsenal and hammer him for every mistake.

Sorry. I’m not having that.

Wilshere has become a soft target because he has not yet recaptured the high standards he set when he broke into the first team almost six years ago.

But the bloke is still only 22 and has only made 49 Premier League appearances in the last three years. More than anything, he needs a run of games - not only to establish himself as a must-pick in Arsenal’s first team, but also to define his role in the side.

In the same way that Aaron Ramsey has made himself indispensable as a goalscoring midfielder since recovering from that horrific ankle injury, Wilshere needs to reboot his career and define himself as a player.

Instead of hammering him every time he tries to make something happen and it doesn’t quite work, we need to focus on the positive aspects of his game.

Once or twice at Goodison Park last weekend, he became frustrated when he took an extra touch or a pass went astray around the Everton box, and the rush to turn on him was frightening.

That’s why I stuck my neck out on Match of the Day and tried to support Wilshere by saying he needs an unbroken run of games to establish the rhythm and consistency Ramsey found last season.

I thought he was magnificent in the two games against Besiktas - although Sanchez took the headlines for scoring the all-important goal, it was Wilshere’s persistence that set it up.

As a Welshman, I can talk objectively about English talents - so I hope Wilshere’s most vocal critics will lay off him. It would be a crying shame to see his talent go to waste if his performances became submerged by a lack of confidence when a bit of support would make a big difference.

(Image: Richard Heathcote)

There are aspects of Wilshere’s game he needs to improve.

He knows that a player of his ability should have scored more than 11 goals in six years.

But, as Roy Hodgson appoints Wayne Rooney to wear the armband, Wilshere is potentially a future England captain, so let’s get behind a talented young player with his best years ahead of him.

Now that the ‘golden generation’ has disappeared into the sunset, there are some big shoes to fill in England’s midfield - and Wilshere has the potential to fill them.

Personally, I would like to see him lay off the cigarettes - smoking is not really compatible with role models in international sport.

On the pitch, however, I will not be criticising him just to conform with other people’s opinions. I am not going to be a negative pundit for the sake of it.

If Arsenal reach the later stages of the Champions League this season, I’m sure their knowledgeable fans will remember Wilshere’s role in getting them past first base.