Just to clarify, this article about Ray Parlour isn’t about him rejoining Arsenal to play alongside Patrick Vieira. It has been a strange summer of transfer activity and rumours for the Gunners, but it hasn’t quite gone that far!

Instead, the former Arsenal midfielder has been giving his opinion on one of Arsene Wenger’s most promising young talents, Jack Wilshere.

In a time when many people’s quest for success is centred around spending ridiculous money on players from around Europe, Arsenal are still trying to produce young talent and Wilshere is a great example of this.

How highly does Parlour rate the midfielder though? Well, very highly it seems. He says that Wilshere was a ‘different class’ during the Emirates Cup, during which he picked up two Man of the Match awards and notched a couple of goals.

Parlour was so impressed with Wilshere’s performances that he believes the 17-year-old can ‘act as a benchmark’ for the rest of the young players at Arsenal. This is a big statement to make about a player so young, but it shows that Wilshere has ability and maturity beyond his years according to some.

Another point that Parlour made was that Wilshere’s involvement in Arsenal’s pre-season has proved that if you are good enough to get in the side, you will do – regardless of your age. This isn’t the case at a lot of clubs, so the youngsters at Arsenal should really push themselves to make an impact as early as possible.

Overall, Parlour wants the youth team players at the club to ‘take confidence’ by seeing how well Wilshere is doing. There are a ‘lot of good players’ at reserve and youth team level, so perhaps a bit of belief is all they need to ensure that they start knocking on the first team door.

By Thomas Rooney