Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, has admitted defeat in trying to prevent Jack Wilshere from playing at the European Under-21 Championship this summer.
The Arsenal midfield player has already played 44 times this campaign for club and country and Wenger is concerned that the 19-year-old will suffer from burnout if he plays in June’s tournament in Denmark.
However, despite his concerns, Wenger concedes there is little he can do to stop Wilshere from playing.
“At the end of the day, the FA have the final word because they have the rules for them,” he said. “It is normal that you play many games, but there is a number you have to respect and make sure you do not make a mistake with a promising player.”
Stuart Pearce, the England Under-21 head coach, is keen to select Wilshere and the player himself also wants to take part, but Wenger is unsure how the competition will aid his development.
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“It’s normal Jack wants to play. That’s more positive than negative,” Wenger said. “After that, basically the youth system is made to promote the players for the top team and once they are in the top team I don’t see a basic need to go back.
“Why do you produce a youth system? It is to get them ready to be playing in the first team. Once they play in the first team, your job has been done so you can promote other players.
“Unless you say we want to go for national pride and ego, so we just play our best players in this tournament, then it is defendable, but that is not basically why the youth teams have been created - the basic target is to get the players ready to play in the first team, once they play there it is less useful.
“If England thinks that Jack Wilshere is not ready to play for the first team completely and he needs to play in the under-21s, that you can defend.
“If they are convinced he is a first-team player, then it is debatable.
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“For us at the moment it is important not to create a debate on that and just focus on the championship. We have to sort that problem out at the end of the season with the FA.”