Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that he is still undecided on the future of Jack Wilshere amid speculation that he could leave the club this summer.
The injury-prone 25-year-old enjoyed a prolonged spell of first-team football while out on loan at Bournemouth last term, but his time on the south coast was ended prematurely by a leg fracture which will also keep him out for the start of the upcoming campaign.
Wilshere is now in the final year of his contract at the Emirates Stadium, and Wenger appeared to suggest that the England international could be on his way out of the club.
Asked whether he expects Wilshere to stay, Wenger told reporters: "That decision is not completely made, I want him to have a chance to play somewhere as well. We have to decide that a bit later.
"I wanted first him to come back, he is coming out of a fracture. It is the first week he is back in full training and we have to sit down together and see where we go from there. Yes [it will be a difficult conversation]. I made him start at a very young age. He has gone through difficult times, I want him to have the career he can have and I am quite open on that.
"[His chance at Arsenal] has not passed because he has the talent to be regular, but he has to come back to competition in a consistent way."
Wilshere has been with Arsenal since the age of nine, making 159 appearances for the senior team.