Goal.com World Player Of The Week: Jack Wilshere - Arsenal & England

Welcome to Goal.com's regular feature: Goal.com World Player of the Week. Each week our worldwide team of editors will put forward a selected candidate, as chosen by Goal.com International, who deserves recognition for achieving something special that matchday. It won't necessarily be the best player in the world - at least not usually - but whoever we nominate will have done something amazing. It might be for a particularly awesome performance or for something praiseworthy off the pitch - either way, the person in question deserves special attention...

Goal.com World Player of the Week #12: JACK WILSHERE
Club: Arsenal
Country: England
Age: 17
Role: Midfielder
Achievement: Sublime performances in the Emirates Cup, staking a claim to a first-team place.

Goal.com's 12th World Player of the Week is, just like last week's, an Arsenal youngster.

But while Carlos Vela took the plaudits for his performance on the international stage, Jack Wilshere is doing it at club level.

At just 17 years of age, the Gunners' youth product already has the touch and technique of his seniors, as shown by the faith of Arsene Wenger in giving him a pronounced role in pre-season.

He has impressed greatly in that time. As Goal.com's Carlo Garganese put it, "Wilshere is going to be a star, he is an immense talent, and the most promising young English player since Rooney, and the most continentally technical young teenage English player since maybe Hoddle. Wilshere plays like he has been schooled at Barcelona - his style is so continental."

Goal.com's Sulmaan Ahmad added, "Wilshere was absolutely outstanding this weekend in the Emirates Cup - that chip, if it had gone in, would have been worthy of Ronaldinho in his prime. More beyond his years than Cesc ever was, and that's saying something - incredible."

Congratulations to Jack Wilshere, our 12th Goal.com World Player of the Week!

Honourable Mentions...

1. Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus - Italy) - By orchestrating Juventus' passage to the Peace Cup final he earned a standing ovation from Real Madrid fans for the second time in a year.
   
2. Marc Albrighton (Aston Villa - England) - The eventual Peace Cup winners deservedly lifted their trophy - and none merited more than Marc Albrighton. The Villa youth product was a joy to watch and will surely be in and around the first team all season.
   
3. Moeneeb Jacobs (Orlando Pirates- South Africa) - The Buccaneers won the Telkom Charity Cup, a one-day tournament between the four most popular clubs in the country, and they can thank Josephs for being the hero in the semi-final and final, which were both won with penalty shootouts. The stopper loomed on the line and pulled off several key saves.
   
4. Keisuke Honda (VVV-Venlo, Japan) - Newly-promoted VVV pulled off a 3-3 draw with PSV Eindhoven to start their season. Honda played extremely well. He had a dangerous header in the first half, had a superb assist with a back heel when VVV brought the score back to 2-1, scored the goal to make it 2-2 himself with a great strike straight from a corner and had an awesome dribble in the second half, in which he humiliated Carlos Salcido, captain Timmy Simons and Dirk Marcellis. The young attacking midfielder has been given a €10 million price tag by his club...
   

Leave your notes of congratulations for Jack below, or discuss who else deserves a place in the sun this week...