Thomas Vermaelen knows all about long-term injuries, having suffered one that kept him out for nearly a full season a couple of years ago. Therefore when the Arsenal captain says Arsenal's future skipper Jack Wilshere is looking stronger than ever, taking the comment with a pinch of salt isn't necessary.
Vermaelen, like everybody else involved with Arsenal, is a huge fan of Wilshere, whom he considers has the potential to be the best midfielder in the world. The England youngster has been out of action for 14 months because of ankle and knee injuries -- an extremely painful situation for someone who had made his major breakthrough into the Arsenal and England squads and was showing the world what he was capable of.
However, Vermaelen is confident, Wilshere, who impressed in Arsenal's under-21 game against Reading Monday, playing 75 minutes, can come back to his best.
"You know what he did in his first full season for Arsenal -- he was amazing," Vermaelen told the club's official website.
"For me, he can be one of the best midfielders in the world. He has the potential for that.
"I'm really happy he's coming back now. He's working on his match fitness and that's the most important thing. I think in the future (he) will lift the team."
Vermaelen suffered an Achilles injury in 2010, which kept him out for nearly the entire 2010-11 season, and the Belgian fully understands the requirements necessary to come back from such a long-term injury, and the positives that one can take from it. "When I was out with injury, I was in the gym a lot," he added. "Jack was in the gym even longer working hard on his weaknesses.
"You can see that now in his body on the pitch. For me he looks much stronger and that's good. Sometimes you have to take the positives when you're out for more than a year and I think he's done that."
The Arsenal defender, apart from being a part of an exciting Arsenal line-up, is also a major part of Belgium's exciting national team. While they are yet to prove it o the international stage, Belgium are now blessed with young and talented players capable of winning a major tournament.
The likes of Marouane Fellaini, Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany, Jan Vertonghen and Vermaelen, just to name a few, have been tipped for greater things, and the Arsenal skipper would like nothing more than to qualify for the 2014 Brazil World Cup.
"At the moment everyone is really positive about the national team, especially in England because they know a lot of players in the Premier League that play for Belgium," Vermaelen said.
"Everybody is talking about the talented group we have. But that means the expectations and the pressure is higher. Everybody expects us to go to the World Cup but it's not easy. You have to fight for every three points because the international level is quite high.
"For me it would be amazing, it would be an honor (to qualify for the 2014 World Cup). I haven't played a tournament at that level yet. I'm getting older as well so I want to play at a big tournament. I feel the time is now to go through."
