On loan Bournemouth midfielder Jack Wilshere has revealed his need to "get away from London" is the reason he chose to join the south coast club over Alan Pardew's Crystal Palace this summer.
Jack Wilshere admits he does not know if he has a future at Arsenal https://t.co/TeyCf2ydiG pic.twitter.com/fyiHWHZdUM
Speaking in an in-depth interview with theMail, Wilshere lifted the lid on the process behind him deciding to leave Arsenal in the final days of the summer transfer window, insisting he needed a fresh start after missing out on a place in the England squad for their opening World Cup qualifiers.
Wilshere confirmed he spoke to Pardew about a move to Crystal Palace, while Milan also offered tentative interest, but Bournemouth were the team for him after a chat with manager Eddie Howe.
He said:"Milan sent an email by all accounts. They said to come over but there was nothing firm in the offering. And I thought I'm not going to come over if there's nothing really doing.
"I met Alan Pardew. He was good, to be fair. I really liked his ideas in terms of what he wanted to do with me at Palace.
"But a big part of me wanted to get away from it all, get away from London. And Eddie Howe was great. Straight away he talked about the things he thought I could improve on and stuff like that and I agreed with him. And what I liked was the fact that, even when they are struggling, Bournemouth never shy away from wanting to play football.
"Once I'd spoken to Eddie I made my mind up. There was something about him that made me feel I wanted to work with him.
"I just wanted a fresh start. It's hard when you are injured and I've had situations where I've been out for a year. Horrible.
"You are going to the training ground every day but you are not playing football. And they are long days in footballing terms. But you get stuck in a routine. You sometimes think 'What exactly am I doing?' You feel miles away from it all. I just felt it would be good to come down here, leave all that behind, start fresh almost."
Join the conversation and follow @_scottsaunders on Twitter!