Wilshere's comments on Arteta as he prepares to hand him route back to football

Mikel Arteta has opened the door for Jack Wilshere to train with Arsenal - which comes as no surprise given the strong bond between the former teammates.

Wilshere, 29, is without a club after he was released by Bournemouth this summer and he is desparate to return to the professional game.

The midfielder spent almost 17 years on Arsenal's books, making 197 senior appearances, and spent five seasons playing alongside Arteta at the Emirates.

The duo have remained friends since Arteta retired from playing in 2016, and the Spaniard insists Wilshere is always welcome to join training with his Gunners side.

Mikel Arteta and Jack Wilshere won two FA Cups during their five seasons together at Arsenal ( Image:

Stuart MacFarlane)

"He is someone that I know who I shared the dressing room with, who is so loved around the club with every person here and our doors are always open," said Arteta of his former colleague on Thursday.

Artea's warm invitation to Wilshere comes a matter of weeks after he received a vote of confidence from the former Three Lions star.

The Arsenal boss has come under fire this season with his side yet to pick up their first points in the Premier League.

The Gunners sit bottom of the table after 2-0 defeats by Brentford and Chelsea, as well as a 5-0 thumping by Manchester City.

Arsenal's form must improve as they take on Norwich City this Saturday or Arteta will find his job under serious threat, but Wilshere insisted he is still the manager to take the club forward.

"It upsets me to see where they are," Wilshere told The Athletic of Arsenal after their home defeat by Chelsea. "One thing I will say is that I do think Arteta is the right guy.

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"Obviously I see the news, stuff on social media… some people want him out. I think he's trying to build something and I think it will take time.

"What hurts me the most is that when I was there and we dropped a little bit, we still got into the Champions League.

"Then when we dropped out of the Champions League, it felt like a massive disappointment - 'Oh my God, we need to be in Champions League, we need to be challenging'.

"Now, they're not even challenging for that. They're not even challenging for a Europa League place, really.

"But there's a good group of young players, which I feel is probably the best since me, Aaron Ramsey and Kieran Gibbs came through. These players need a few years."

It remains to be seen whether Wilshere will take up Arteta's offer of training at Arsenal's London Colney base. He spent time over the summer working with Serie B side Como in Italy, but he was unable to sign a contract due to not having a European Union passport.