Ex-Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere is training with Serie B outfit Calcio Como as his search for a new club continues.
Wilshere has been without a club since seeing his six-month stint at Bournemouth come to an end following their failed promotion bid in 2020-21.
The 29-year-old has been linked with a number of other English clubs in recent months, and Scottish champions Rangers, but he has yet to find a new employer for the current campaign and is now keeping his fitness levels up in Italy.
What's been said?
Como have allowed Wilshere to take part in full training with their first team squad, but they won't be able to bring him in on a free transfer due to the fact that Serie B teams can only buy non EU-players from Italian clubs of all levels.
A statement from the Lega B official Twitter account reads: "Jack Wilshere is training with Como led by Jack Gattuso in these hours.
"But he cannot be registered in Serie B because he has a non-EU passport."
Hi Jack 👋
— Lega B (@Lega_B) August 31, 2021
Jack Wilshere si sta allenando con il @Como_1907 di Jack Gattuso in queste ore.
Ma non potrà essere tesserato in #SerieBKT a causa del passaporto da extracomunitario. pic.twitter.com/1hiYM6FeDC
Wilshere's recent struggles
Wilshere admitted that he is struggling with his current situation during a recent interview with The Athletic, and said he may have no choice but to continue his career abroad because he feels as though he has been written off by English clubs.
"I struggle to imagine I would be here at this point in my career," he said. “When I go out, people recognise me. The most difficult part is trying to explain when they ask: ‘Well, why don’t you just sign for a club in England?’ I’m like: ‘Well, no one wants me’, and they can’t really get their head around it.
“I’ve said before that I’m open to going abroad. In fact, I probably want to go abroad. I want to try something different. Have a fresh start somewhere where people, clubs, fans don’t think: ‘Oh, that’s Jack Wilshere. He’s going to get injured today’, or, ‘He’ll play five games and that’s it… waste of an investment’.
“I feel a little bit like the door in this country has been shut on me. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because of the injury history and people getting references from places. I feel like that’s unfair."
Wilshere's fall from grace
Wilshere was initally revered as one of the brightest talents of his generation at Arsenal, where he burst onto the scene as a teenager in 2008 under Arsene Wenger.
His dazzling displays in the middle of the park - the most notable of which came in a Champions League win over Barcelona - earned him a place in the England squad, but injuries then began to derail his career.
Arsenal ended up letting Wilshere go in the summer of 2018 and he was then snapped up by West Ham, but his fitness problems continued at the London Stadium and he was released last October before linking up with Bournemouth in the winter transfer window.