Jack Wilshere to Colorado Rapids | Ornstein confirms Osimhen interest | Balogun SPEAKS!

Jack Wilshere holds talks with Colorado Rapids over head coach job. Jack Wilshere has held talks with Major League Soccer club Colorado Rapids over becoming their new head coach. The former England international 31 has been coach of Arsenal's under-18s team since July 2022 and has made a strong impression leading them to the 2022-23 FA Youth Cup final in his first season in charge. The Rapids, owned by the same Cronkite Sports and Entertainment Group that own Arsenal, parted ways with former head coach Robin Fraser in September. As revealed in the Athletics Arc's Ornstein Q&A, the US franchise made a formal approach to Arsenal to speak with Wilshere, who is thought to have impressed in his interview with them. The Rapids now need to make a decision with the Scotland-born Chris Little leading the squad on an interim basis in the meantime. Jack Wilshere is keen to move into senior management if and when the right opportunity arrives and has caught the eye of other clubs for current or potential vacancies. He has spent 10 years at Arsenal as a player, making 197 appearances for the club and scoring 14 goals. We all know he made his debut aged 16 years of age. Now, the first thing I would say is, I mean, it's a kick in the teeth for people who are not blessed to have been former footballers to the standard of Jack Wilshere because 31 years of age, crazy, isn't it? It's just deep. That's the first thing. Jack Wilshere is only 31. I love Jack Wilshere. I loved him as a player. I love it. When you think of Jack Wilshere, you think of Arsenal. It's a tragedy what happened to him with injuries, but to still win an FA Cup, to still have represented your two boyhood clubs in Arsenal and West Ham and to still have played at international tournaments is a success in itself. Football is never guaranteed. Potential is never guaranteed. Those are memories that can't be taken away from the man. So as I was saying, it's a bit sad that at 31 years of age, he stopped playing, but 31, been at Arsenal for a second, and now he's going to get a head coach role. It's a bit of a kick in the teeth for, you know, Joe Bloggs, who wasn't a former footballer, who has aspirations to coach. But for me, if I'm Jack Wilshere, I couldn't begrudge him. You know, I respect it. If I was him, I'd go and do it. You get to live within America, move your family out there. There's all lifestyle experiences and stuff like that. Be a head coach. Test yourself at, you know, senior level. Who doesn't want career progression? And obviously, he still remains in the Arsenal kind of pyramid. The Colorado Rapids are owned by Arsenal. So technically, you know, he's still in the circuit, really. And you look at the Citigroup, when they had Mikel Arteta, I think Posta Koglu was part of it in some degree, you know, and other managers. You could be grooming him for another job, of course, people will say rightly. So MLS doesn't mean you can manage Arsenal, you know. I think Mikel Arteta will be here for a while, but I definitely would keep an eye on Xabi Alonso. I'm keen to see how Cesc Fabregas, in general, develops as a football coach as well. And Jack Wilshere would be one, and I'm sure there's a bunch of others. So I wish him the best if he does get a concrete, positive, you know, outcome on his interview. And if that's what he wants to do, of course, that leaves our under-18s needing to find a new head coach or promote someone or shift things around. I don't know. But I wish Jack Wilshere the best if that is what he's going to do, people. Okay, this is terribly written, so I won't worry about that. Balogun has said the move was out of his hands. Bit of a bit dishonest there, Balogun, really. But let's see exactly what he said. He has told ESPN that the decision over whether he remained at Arsenal last summer was out of his control. As we know, he's doing quite well at Monaco. He missed two penalties one week, but he's back to bagging. He joined for 40-odd million quid. We wish him all the best. And you can't rule out him returning to the Premier League and also to Arsenal Football Club. He's got three goals in five, including a goal against his former loan club, Reims, which he refused to celebrate. Apparently, he said he really didn't, on leaving, he said he really didn't say much. He just said, when I came back, he just said I'd done well and he encouraged me to keep going. Then me coming back in pre-season, it was just more about seeing whether I fit into his plans and seeing if I can continue to play games. Evidently, you've got Jesus, you've got Nketiah, you've got Havertz and Trossart and Martinelli, who could all play as false nines. Whether you're a striker, a ringer or a 10, there's only a select few that you can have on the bench. And, you know, Arsenal have been linked to strikers. Ossman, Ivan, Tony seem to be aggressive links. So I just feel Arsenal said, you know what, Balogun isn't in my plans, whether he develops or not, or Mikel Arteta didn't have him in his plans. So I think he's just decided to move on. And, you know, Arsenal, we didn't really move on players for big money. Balogun was an appreciating asset and we got 40-odd million pounds for someone that hasn't completed 90 minutes for Arsenal Football Club consistently or started or played any significant games on a consistent basis. So it is what it is. I do feel sorry for him, would have loved for him to get an opportunity. I just don't think he was Arteta's cup of tea. He said that he would try to get me involved as best that he could. But of course, he also told me that the people higher up were making decisions on me and seeing what would be best for me. So the decision, the conversations between me and him were good, but it was more about what the club wanted to do. So I think it was just about the balance sheet and Balogun had got to see that side of football, that it was keeping it moving. He was linked with a whole bunch of clubs. He's gone to Monaco, which is a fantastic club to develop, a league he knows, a club that Monaco sell players for big money. You look at Chouhameni and you look at Bernardo, Silva, Kylian Mbappé and that kind of crop of players. They know Balogun if he does what he needs to do, he will have offers from Premier League clubs or teams in stronger European leagues. So, yeah, he said I definitely disagree with it was just all in his hands because at the end of the day, he could have rejected moves. I respect Balogun because there's many young players that will stay on clubs and not really develop and he needed to remove the romance. I'm sure he would have loved to have cut his teeth for Arsenal. There are players from Haaland, Nelson, Saka, Smith-Rowe, et cetera, all in the first team. I'm sure he would have wanted to make it at the club or give it more of a fair chance. But if they're moving shaky and other clubs are giving you more confirmation, it makes sense to ultimately depart the club and go and play first team football, which I really respect Balogun for going outside his comfort zone, really. But I definitely disagree slightly about that it was all out of his hands. It's a bit naive to suggest that, really. I don't know if a new contract was forthcoming, but I do believe he was contracted until 2025. So maybe the hands were, in fact, tied. It, in brackets, his future up in the air, wasn't something that made me feel anxious. It was just more of a case of seeing what wanted to be done. It was out of my hands. That's how I felt. It wasn't something I could control. The only thing I could do was just turn up to train and work hard. So I did that. And then after training, I enjoyed being back in London. I saw my friends caught up with my family, big him up and we wish him all the best for club and country in the future, people, really and truly. Allegedly, David Ornstein said, in terms of price and profile, I don't see Arsenal going for Osserman. I suspect he's on their list. He will be for all the top sides. The pool of quality strikers is so small at present that any big club is looking to sign one are likely to be studying the names. Osserman, Martinez, Ferguson, Cesco and Boniface. These are all the guys that are doing really well. But as you said, the striker market is on the floor right now. You probably have to take a chance if you're not prepared to spend 60 to 100 million on Ivan Toney, 100 odd million for Osserman. Lord knows what Brighton want for Ferguson, for example. Cesco is going to cost a lot of money, but you probably have to look at the Cescos, the Bonifaces, the Garassis, Garassi, Opendo who went from Lenz to Leipzig. Them kind of guys, a bit like what sort of Vlahovic go from Fiorentina to Juventus or United with Ramos Hojland. Arsenal have obviously been linked with finals. It's Jimenez, actually Jimenez and Timber. So it pays to really do your homework really. As we know, for whatever reason, in terms of household names, clinical strikers are not, to us fans, are not worldwide known and things like that. But strikers are always developing. Osserman had to start somewhere really. He was at Lille. We sold him for big money to Napoli. He is contracted until 2025. He'll cost a lot of money next summer. He'll cost a lot of money in January. So we'll have to see people. But you'd imagine striker is an area that Arsenal should be looking at. And he's spoken on Osserman where we spoke with his agents, as these journalists said last summer. We've previously been linked with Ferguson in the Athletic and also Martinez. So those are concrete names Arsenal have been interested in. But for me, I don't think now's the time to discuss transfers. I'm very pessimistic whether we bring in a striker of these lots calibre in January. I think that's more of a summer job. But with that being said, we've spoken about Jack Wilshere. We've gone over Osserman. Let me know your thoughts and feelings in relation to everything we discussed. Check out the rest of the videos. Don't forget to like, comment, sub and subscribe and all of that good stuff. I'm out.