Wilshere reveals Arsenal boss Arteta's advice as he takes the plunge with Luton

​New Hatters manager Jack Wilshere will use Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta’s advice and swim as hard as he can after deciding to jump into the waters of senior management with Luton on Monday.

The 33-year-old, who was a team-mate of the Spanish U21 international during his playing days with the Gunners, then worked with the ex-Everton and Rangers midfielder at the Emirates after he retired, taking the U18s in 2022, three years after Arteta had been named as Unai Emery’s replacement in the dug-out himself.

Having been on the coaching staff under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City prior to getting the top job, it was also Arteta’s first stab at becoming a number one, as although he has only won one FA Cup during his six years at the helm, he has slowly turned the Gunners into serious Premier League title contenders once more this campaign after finishing second last term.

It was his words of wisdom about working out when the time was right to become a manager that really resonated with Wilshere though, as he said: “When I spoke to him, not about this (Luton job), it was about maybe a year ago, I said to him, ‘Mikel when did you know you were ready?’ He laughed and I said, ‘what are you laughing at?’ He said, ‘you just have to jump in and swim as hard as you can,’ and he’s obviously done that really well.

"This feels a little bit similar to that, of course it’s a different level, but when Mikel went in, it wasn’t a nice place at Arsenal. It was a little bit, the fans were not sure what was happening and what he did was he built a complete unity, a complete trust in what he was doing and very family. It feels like the family here as well and getting people on board, getting people to believe and convincing them. Mikel was good at that and there’s definitely things I’ll take from him on this journey.”

Asked whether he will be able to call on Arteta for any advice during his time at Kenilworth Road, Wilshere continued: “Since I’ve been at Arsenal, I was lucky I was close to him, because It’s probably not normal that an under 18s manager can go into the head coach’s office, but he was great and he still will be. You can definitely take inspiration from other coaches and try and make it your own, so I will try and do everything I can to be successful.”

Despite Arteta’s words of wisdom, Wilshere, who had two games in caretaker charge of Norwich City last season after Johannes Hoff Thorup was sacked, although eventually overlooked for the top job, despite a number of Canaries fans hoping he was the successor at Carrow Road, took his time before opting to apply for the Hatters job. Having come to the decision to try his hand at management, getting a gig wasn’t the most simple thing in the world either, with the competition fierce, as he added: “I haven’t been crazy and throwing myself into different things, like I want that, I want that, I want that. I haven’t done that.

“When I left Norwich I finished my pro licence, I had a nice couple of weeks at St George’s Park and that was really nice as you spend time with managers, with coaches, with good people and actually during the whole pro license, all these guys they’re in it, they’re working, they’re asked to come away for a few days. So that week was nice, where you could talk to people, experienced management, Champions and League One, all of them and then I actually had a four week holiday which I’ve never had, I went away with the kids to Cyprus.

“Then when I came back I just tried to keep myself busy. I’m lucky that I’ve got relationships with good coaches out there, that are very open. I’ve built relationships with them, I’ve been having conversations with them, I coached my sons under 14s team, I coached the under sixes on Saturday so I’ve been there or thereabouts, just trying to keep myself going and I definitely feel like that this has come at a good time and I’m ready for it.

"I think naturally because it was my first time where I’ve been a coach and then all of a sudden you find yourself out of a job, you’re not coaching, as I said the journey I was on in those three years, I wanted to continue that, so I was seeking ways to find that, speaking to coaches, spending time with coaches, but I did probably feel like I wanted to get an opportunity. It feels like it is difficult, and I said that to Gary (Sweet, CEO) and the guys throughout the whole process, I’m very grateful for that because it feels like that’s what I needed. That’s what any young coach needs in my opinion, is first of all an opportunity and then support and I definitely feel like I’ve got that here.”