Jack Wilshere: Arsenal Star Has Ankle Surgery, out Until 2012

They say the night is darkest just before the dawn. Well, things just got a whole lot darker for Arsenal.

News has just broken that young Arsenal phenom Jack Wilshere is set to undergo ankle surgery that will keep him out until the end of the calendar year.

Arsenal had hoped that young Jack's injury would heal itself when put in a corrective boot, but after a month of treatment and without any progress to show for it, Arsenal have opted to put Wilshere under the knife.

The club says that there is no solid timetable, nor will there be one until some time after the procedure; Wilshere, however, stated on his Twitter account that he should be ready to return around Christmas.

Obviously, this is a huge blow to an Arsenal side that have been sorely lacking Wilshere's creativity, grit and determination in midfield, and performances like his from last season would certainly have been a massive boon to the side.

Now, the midfield options of Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey, Yossi Benayoun, Alex Song, Tomas Rosicky, Emmanuel Frimpong and Abou Diaby (when he returns) will be stretched for a much longer period of time than Arsenal hoped.

While some may blame the medical staff or the manager, such criticism is unfair. WIlshere's ankle not responding to a common treatment for his type of injury is not their fault, and Arsene Wenger had no choice but to play his best midfielder when Arsenal was actually competing for trophies.

Besides, the initial knock on the ankle was picked up on international duty in Euro 2012 qualifying, which no one said Wilshere should not have been playing in.

The one silver lining to be taken from this whole frustrating situation is that the procedure will conclusively end whatever is plaguing the youngster's ankle, preventing any similar flare-ups in the future.

And, to the credit of the medical staff, they are not letting this turn into a Thomas Vermaelen situation, nipping the issue in the bud after approaching it with a short period of initial caution.

Get well soon Jack. The Gunners need you and your fighting spirit more than ever. I, for one, don't think I could receive a better Christmas gift than a Jack Wilshere-Mikel Arteta midfield partnership.

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