Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere is a better footballer than teammates Mohamad Elneny, Francis Coquelin and Granit Xhaka, according to club legend Charlie Nicholas.

The injury-prone 25-year-old has slowly made his way back into the first-team fold after spending last season on loan at Bournemouth.

And Nicholas believes he will be able to do a better job than the aforementioned names when he gets back to full fitness.

Nicholas said: "None of us, in all honesty, think he can get back to where he was four or five years ago because the injuries have been so severe, but if he can get close to that then he's still worth keeping.

"Is he a better footballer than Granit Xhaka? Yes. He's certainly better than Mohamed Elneny and Francis Coquelin, and things are starting to fall in place for him where he's going to get opportunities.

"Even Tottenham fans would have to acknowledge he's shown remarkable determination to bounce back again and he's got too much talent for Arsenal to give up on him.

"He went to Bournemouth to get playing time and maybe it didn't go quite as well as he would have liked but he showed the willingness to keep trying.

"Put it this way, I'd much rather Wilshere was on the bench than Elneny or Coquelin."