Jack Wilshere thinks one Arsenal teammate was even more technically gifted than Mesut Ozil

Mesut Ozil was one of the most technically gifted players to ever wear an Arsenal shirt.

In fact, there are very few players in Premier League history who could match him for pure technical quality.

His vision, his touch, his creativity, his ability to find teammates in impossible spaces — he was breathtaking to watch at his best.

And yet Jack Wilshere thinks he knows someone who had the edge on him.

Jack Wilshere suggests Santi Cazorla was even better than Mesut Ozil in training

Speaking on LIFEJACKET’s The Boot Room, Wilshere was asked about the best player he ever trained with at Arsenal. His answer was immediate.

“The best ever I think for training was Santi Cazorla,” he said. “Arsene was all about technique and with the ball, combinations, he was so good at that, he was off both feet.

“He had a picture in his head, if you watch him go through the mannequins. Him, Rosicky, Cesc was good, Hleb — I only saw the end of him but he was top technically.”

It’s hard to argue. Cazorla was an absolutely extraordinary footballer.

As Wilshere points out, it was as if Cazorla mapped out the pitch in his head prior to receiving the ball, allowing him to glide through players effortlessly.

And for a player so diminutive in stature, and so physically limited, he almost defied science with how hard he was to tackle. The ball just stuck to his feet.

He had the incredibly rare quality of being two-footed too, to the point that he would take corners with either foot, depending on which side the corner was on. Imagine that under Mikel Arteta!

His return from that devastating Achilles injury would have ended most careers. But Cazorla went on to become one of La Liga’s best players at Villarreal in his mid-thirties.

He officially hung up his boots earlier this summer, one season after helping his boyhood club, Real Oviedo, achieve promotion to La Liga for the first time in 24 years.

Arteta sent Cazorla a classy message after he retired, and has previously spoken openly about wanting him involved at Arsenal in some capacity.

Cazorla himself has not been shy about the idea either.

Arteta has already shown he is willing to bring old teammates back into the fold, welcoming Wilshere back into coaching after his playing days ended.

Could he one day do the same for his big mate Cazorla?