Wenger: Wilshere needs years without injuries to return to his best

The England midfielder has been plagued by niggling ankle problems throughout his career and has been limited to just nine appearances in the Premier League in 2014-15.Arsene Wenger says that Jack Wilshere may need two injury-free years to return to his best form.The Arsenal midfielder has struggled with ankle injuries throughout his career, and has been limited to just nine Premier League appearances this season.Wilshere underwent surgery after suffering a recurrence of a previous ankle problem against Manchester United in November, and Wenger believes he may need two full seasons without any setbacks to recapture his finest form.Every week he is stronger, he is getting back to the level now. This week is the first week he has been sharp again," the Arsenal boss told reporters. "He needs one or two years without problems to get the full confidence and belief back.You live in a job where you need to trust your body. Jack is one of those who plays with freedom as soon as he’s back. So I don’t think on that front it will be a problem.What people underestimate a little bit is that to get back to be capable to play is one thing. To be back and be capable to be sharp and efficient takes a bit longer.Wenger concedes that injuries have played a major role in Arsenal’s season, and has hinted that he believes the club could have mounted a title challenge had key players remained fit.We had big injuries at the start of the season and we only got our squad together more recently. Even then we still lost players like Wilshere in November, and then again afterwards. We were not all together,” he added.So it took us some time to find a good balance in the team and we dropped some points because of that. Missing players was certainly detrimental to our results.