After Jack Wilshere starred for Arsenal against a resilient West Ham side on Wednesday night a lot of people have been banging the ‘Wilshere to West Ham’ drum. But is he the right player for us?
Another player, almost forgotten by the media, that we should look at is Ross Barkley. His skill and ability has never been in question. But like Wilshere his injury record and overall consistency has.
Here I take 
a brief look at both players and try to decide which player I would rather have.
Jack is a West Ham fan (or at least he was!!) and has made no secret of his desire to join us at some point. But he seems to spend more time with the physio than his teammates. According to transfermarkt.co.uk he has missed a whopping 155 first team matches since the start of the 09/10 season. This is essentially 4 whole Premier League seasons.
In the same period he has featured in 151 first team matches in the Premier League for Arsenal, Bolton and Bournmouth scoring 7 and assisting a further 18. This means he makes a goal scoring contribution (either scoring or assisting) once in every 6 matches. Um………
Ross Barkley on the other hand has missed 37 first team matches since the start of the 13/14 season (most of them this term as he has not featured at all since his surgery). Since his debut in 11/12 he has made 150 Premier League appearances (and a further 17 in the Championship with Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday). He has scored 21 Premier League goals and made 21 assists. This means a goal scoring/assisting record of one in every 3.5 matches!!
There is also the small matter of David Moyes who will know Barkley well from his time at Everton and indeed it was Moyes who handed Barkley his debut.
When I started writing this I would have taken Wilshere over Barkley everyday of the week. But when I look at the stats I can’t help but think that Barkley would be the better option. Like Wilshere his contract is up in the summer. Both would be available for a knock down price. Wilshere is being mentioned at around £10mil with Barkley probably closer to £15mil-£20mil. But then Barkley is that bit younger!
Make your own minds up of course and feel free to tweet the guys @hammers_chat with your opinions. Both would be great signings for us and would improve the middle of the park. But who would offer the better investment?
COYI!!!