It was a massive coup for Eddie Howe when he managed to convince Jack Wilshere to join him at Bournemouth.

The England international's Arsenal career has been touch-and-go for a while, but for the Cherries, bringing in a big name like him was meant to provide a massive boost.

However, it's fair to say that Wilshere hasn't had quite the impact he would have liked on the South Coast.

Back in October, he completed 90 minutes for the first time in two years in a 0-0 draw with Tottenham. At that point, it looked as if his injury problems were behind him.

The 25-year-old is still yet to find the back of the net, though, and is subject to constant comparisons with the flourishing Dele Alli - who incidentally, has scored more goals this calendar year than Wilshere has in his entire career.

In recent weeks, Howe has confined the midfielder to the bench, which says a lot. Until their recent games against Manchester United and West Ham, Bournemouth had lost four games on the bounce, and he still wasn't getting in the team.

Nonetheless, it appears that his fitness problems have been at the heart of his latest drop down to the bench.

A career plagued by injuries 

Wilshere's injured, water is wet.

Dr Craig Roberts, head of the club's Medical Services, has given an interview with 'The Training Ground Guru', brought to our attention by 101GreatGoals. He explained:

"Jack has had a lot of overuse type injuries over the years. He’s had some traumatic ones as well, which every player can get, but he’s a player who is prone to break down if the load is too high.

"For us, particularly given that he hadn’t played a lot leading up to joining us, we were very very strict in terms of the amount of training he would do in the week leading up to a game.

"We were very strict on what he could and couldn’t do. Jack didn’t like it, because he just wanted to get out and train and play."

Bournemouth are clearly handling him well, which could explain why he's finally been able to play more regularly than he did for Arsenal.

It must still be incredibly frustrating for a player who was once expected to go on to achieve great things.

Should Arsenal take Wilshere back? Have your say in the comments.