Arsenal and England midfielder Jack Wilshere has revealed Arsene Wenger told him he could leave the club last summer.

The 26-year-old who is on international duty with England explained the details of the ‘honest conversation’ between himself and the Arsenal boss before the start of this season.

Wilshere said: “He gave me the opportunity [to leave] with three or four weeks left in the transfer window.

“He said, ‘I am going to be honest with you and at the moment we are not going to be offering you a contract, so if you can get a contract somewhere else, you can go’.”

At the time of the pair’s discussion, Wilshere had returned from a loan spell at Bournemouth designed to improve his all-round fitness and provide much-needed first-team action.

“I did not find anything that I wanted and at the same time I was not really fit, so I decided that I wanted to stay and build up my fitness”, added Wilshere.

“It was boiling up for a while because everybody knew I had a year left on my deal and I had been out on loan, got injured, and wasn’t really in his plans.”

Speculation is rising the Hitchin-reared star could leave the Emirates this summer, as he heads into the final months of his contract with sources close to the player indicating they are unhappy with the offer the Gunners have put on the table.