With the England midfielder out of contract in the summer, he has called on the Arsenal manager to be “honest” with him as he considers ending his 10-year association with the club in a bid to force his way into Gareth Southgate’s World Cup plans.

Wilshere has been told he has to be playing regularly even to be considered for England, but last night’s performance in the disappointing 1-0 defeat in Cologne in the Europa League was his first start since he last played in the same competition.

To add to his unease, Wilshere has not even heard from the England manager since he was pointedly not included in the recent double header against Germany and Brazil.

“Gareth hasn’t rung,” the Arsenal player said. “He’s got my number and he hasn’t called me yet. If he wants to call me, my phone is always on.

“He didn’t put me in the squad and had that to focus on. He said in the press what he wanted me to do: get in the team and play regularly and that’s what I’m trying to do. That’s all I can do.”

Subsequently, things are drawing to a head at Arsenal, too.

“I want to play in the Premier League so of course I'm frustrated,” he said. “I will try everything. But I think we will have to talk about possibly leaving in January when it comes down to it. We have got a month until then and we’ll see what happens.

“Obviously, when January comes, I have only got six months left on my contract.

“Me and the boss will probably have a conversation before then and - we have known each other for long enough and we have a good relationship where we can be honest with each other so I'm sure we will be and then we will go from there.”

The pair had an open heart-to-heart in the summer after Wilshere had gone nearly two years since he was last regularly pulling on an Arsenal shirt as a result of injuries and a loan spell at Bournemouth.

Since then Wilshere feels he has upheld his side of the bargain and cannot understand why he has been restricted to just 25 minutes of action where it matters, in the Premier League.

“We spoke in the summer and he told me what I had to do,” Wilshere said. 

“I have got as fit as I can, I have played a few games now and I'm ready to play and that is down to the boss. It is difficult when you play every three weeks but I feel fit.

“That’s the funny thing about football. Against Man City I came on but against Tottenham I didn’t. It changes every week. There are a lot of games and we’ll see what we do next week.

“He has always been good to me in the past, we have known each other long enough to be honest with each other and I'm sure between now and January we will have that conversation.”

The added wrinkle is that Southgate sees the 25-year-old as a deeper-lying midfielder while Wenger insists he is best suited to a more attacking no. 10 role.

“If Gareth sees me in that position, I have to play in that position,” he said. 

“To be honest, that is probably my favourite position. I can see where he is coming from. I enjoy playing there. At the moment, I’m playing a bit higher here.

“I’ve said before that I want to stay here and play. I don’t have to say how much this club means to me.

“But at the same time as well, the boss has got to be honest with me and I’m sure he will.”