The news of Jack Wilshere’s openness to a loan move in January came as quite a surprise, particularly in light of the increasing injury toll at the club which has impacted Arsene’s attacking options. Now Le Boss himself has indicated he would consider “a good opportunity” for the 17 year-old in January. Sky Sports News’ website describes our starlet in their report as a fringe player, with only five first-team appearances this season. In the absence of Tomas Rosicky for a month, one would expect that number to increase over the festive period, starting with the match against Olympiacos this evening.

In the event a deal is struck, Jack has expressed his desire to operate in the Premier League, despite interest from Celtic, Rangers – who he tormented delightfully in last summer’s Emirates Cup – and Gordon Strachan’s Middlesbrough. “Not that the Championship is a bad league at all, but it might suit me differently,” said Jack. In truth, dropping a division to be exposed to regular competitive football can swing both ways, depending on the player.

Take Kerrea Gilbert, who debuted as so many youngsters do in the Carling Cup against Reading in November 2005. His display at Highbury that night, with his bursts of pace and apparently keen attacking sense, certainly impressed. Two months later, when he brilliantly set up Henry to score against Wigan in the same campaign, the Frenchman was quick to direct all of the North Bank’s praise onto the then-19 year-old.

Off he went on loan, and effectively into exile. Very little was heard of him at Cardiff, Southend and Leicester. He even fell out of favour at the Shrimpers, and the high hopes for him vanished almost as quickly as he did. I was surprised to see him back and featuring regularly in the Carling Cup this season, and not so surprised to hear a few weeks back of his desire to move away for regular football.

Jay Simpson stands at quite the other end of the spectrum. He said of his loan stint at League One Millwall in 2007, where in 6 months he won the PFA Fan’s Player of the Year award, that it was the best decision he ever made – “it did me a world of good”. He’s since been with West Brom in the Premier League and is currently on fire for QPR in the Championship, helping their push for promotion with eight goals. Despite the lower quality of opposition, he looks to have all the attributes to be quite successful in the top-flight when he returns at the end of the season.

Vito Mannone, meanwhile, made two horror-show appearances for Barnsley in 2007, but in the absence of Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski stepped in to claim man-of-the-match away to Fulham in September, proving that if you fail to impress, the verdict of the loan is not final. However, if you perform, the chance you took in taking a temporary split from London Colney can be career-changing.

There were huge doubts over Alex Song’s ability when he joined the club. His ‘Hisa HHH HHdisplay’ in a 1-1 draw at Portsmouth in 2006 stands out as particularly dreadful. But he was taken on by Alan Pardew at Charlton in January 2007, and there he cemented a place in a holding midfield role that he now plays with considerable class. Due to his stunning improvement and the lack of other defensive midfield options in the squad, his is arguably one of the most important names on Arsenal’s team sheet, to the extent that after three defeats from four, I felt some concern about his absence against Stoke at the weekend. He signed a new five-year contract a fortnight ago.

Song’s spell came in the Premier League, though. Currently, Henri Lansbury is finding his feet at Watford, Gavin Hoyte is performing under Gus Poyet at Brighton and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, superb in the Youth Cup triumph last season, has just returned from Blackpool. His development at a lower level will be put to the test in Athens tonight as one of seven players who have had loan spells since joining the club.

Wenger may have shied away from giving Wilshere too many run-outs this season after the overwhelming media acclaim he attracted for his displays in pre-season – there have been occasions where he could have featured but didn’t. There were similar hopes and expectations placed upon David Beckham as a 19 year-old in 1994/95, but he shone in the five appearances he made on loan at second-tier Preston that season. C*shley’s stint at Crystal Palace when he was 18 (though we now shy from admitting it) is further proof that dropping down a level needn’t hamper development if the player is blessed enough with natural skill.

What separates Wilshere from Gilbert, Simpson and Song is that with him there’s not an ounce of uncertainty. He’s a definite star in the making. He’s highly likely to be a regular for the Three Lions. The buzz around him is reminiscent of Fabregas in 2004 - who himself never took in a loan move. With Jack, it’s often as hard for us Gooners to keep our feet on the ground as it must be for the lad himself, especially when we’re treated with glimpses of him working his young magic!

Though Wilshere was deployed on the left of our forward three against Man City in the Carling Cup, it is totally conceivable that given his technique he can operate on either side, if this is how Wenger sees him developing into our 4-3-3 formation. Depending on his showing tonight, this versatility may serve him very well for the Christmas fixtures with Tomas out again. And after that, we’ll see.