Jack Wilshere: Arsenal midfielder defended by Arsene Wenger as 'not a drinker at all'

The 24-year-old was questioned by police in the early hours of Sunday morning following an altercation outside a nightclub

“Jack is not a drinker at all,” Wenger said. “I don’t even have that worry, not at all. What he did [last Saturday night] I don’t know, honestly I don’t think so. He had a hard [training] session on Monday and he did very well in the session, so if he had been heavily drinking on Sunday I don’t think he would have survived.”

Wenger even positively compared Wilshere’s behaviour with that of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two best players of their generation. “Before games they have been photographed [out], 48 hours before games,” Wenger said. “Which Wilshere has never been done.”

“I invite you to come in every day and watch him work,” Wenger said. “You will understand that he is very, very dedicated. The only thing that could stop him from having the career he could make is injuries. He has a history of injuries, but I hope he can get rid of that. Then he will have the career he deserves.”

Wilshere will play for the Arsenal Under-21s on Friday, almost 10 months on from his last competitive game, for England against Slovenia. Wenger hopes that when Wilshere is back playing people will only concentrate on his football.

“He should be absolutely well now,” he said. “But because of the history if you look at the number of games he has played in the past two or three years, you think let’s get the consistency and then before you say you are out of the woods, let’s how the next three months go and then you assess things.”

“What you want is for them to behave well, of course,” he said. “But first of all to perform well on the football pitch. That’s their job. Today the judgment is just on the last performance. Let him recover, prepare, come back and if he does well for England at the European Championship he will be the hero.”