He may only be nineteen but Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere is already a big character according to team-mate Alex Song.

Speaking to BBC, the Cameroon International explained that the Englishman may still be a young man but he is very clever and always ready to talk to the other players, if required.

Song revealed that his midfield colleague tells him when he is to drop back rather than pushing forward as he revealed that even though everyone is full of praise for Wilshere’s first season as a regular he still works very hard to improve and that this shows that he possesses the needed winning mentality.

Loaned out to Bolton Wanderers last season, the PFA Young Footballer Of The Year immediately secured a regular place in Arsene Wenger’s starting eleven after returning at Arsenal and was one of the most consistent players for the Gunners during the soon-to-end campaign.

On Wilshere, Song said:

Jack is a big character. He’s still young but as I said he’s very clever. When you’re on the pitch, you need to talk to help your partners and he’s done very well.

Sometimes when I push forward, he says, ‘no Alex, try to drop back a little bit’. We just try to talk to help each other – which works very good. I think this guy is very clever, quick, good on the ball and is just 19.

He doesn’t want to say ‘today everyone talks about me, so I won’t work harder’. Every day in training it’s like a new day for him.

I’ve never seen him walk in training. I think that’s very good because when you have the mentality like that it’s the winning mentality. England have a good future with him.