Jack Wilshere, the Arsenal and England footballer, has won a planning battle to keep 18ft-high nets in his back garden after neighbours complained that they were a "monstrosity".

The 24-year-old midfielder, who is currently not playing following surgery for a fractured fibula, faced having to tear down the nets in his garden in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, after a complaint from neighbours.

He installed the huge mesh net around a mini-football pitch in the garden of his six-bedroom £3.6m home to stop footballs getting kicked into neighbours' gardens.

"He can't be very good at scoring if he needs so much netting to stop balls flying everywhere" Jack Wilshere neighbour

But one set of neighbours complained to St Albans City and District Council, saying the nets were a "monstrosity" and "ruined their views".

The neighbours said that the father of two, who has 28 caps for England, told them that the net was for him - not his children - and was to prevent him booting balls "all over the place".

One neighbour said they "presumed" the net was for his children, but that the footballer told them it was for his own training".

The neighbour, who was not named, said: "He can't be very good at scoring if he needs so much netting to stop balls flying everywhere.