Cook: Cherries need top ten spot to tempt Jack

Bournemouth defender Steve Cook believes a top ten finish this season could prove pivotal should the club try to sign Jack Wilshere on a permanent basis.

Wilshere, capped 34 times by England, has reignited his faltering career since moving to the Vitality Stadium on loan earlier this season, struggling for regular football with Arsenal.

The midfielder has only missed three of Bournemouth’s 24 Premier League fixtures and has become a key part of the side that currently find themselves 14th in the table.

However, Cook believes that only a finish in the upper echelons of the league will tempt Wilshere to leave his parent club Arsenal, with whom he has played for since the age of nine.

(Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

Cook said: “The only way Jack will sign is if we finish as high up the league as possible.

“If we can break into the top ten that would give him more reason to want to stay but we need to improve to make that happen.

“He’s fitted into the changing room really nicely and added to it and, hopefully, we can get back on form and try to convince him this could be his long-term future. But there is a long way to go to make that happen.

“At the end of the day, it’s his decision. There is still a lot of football to be played. I don’t think he has thought too much about it.

“We want him to stay and, with him in the side, he makes us a lot better.”