LONDON -- Arsene Wenger has confirmed he will offer Jack Wilshere a new Arsenal contract and said the midfielder is proving he made the right decision by joining Bournemouth on loan this season.
Wilshere will have to sit out Sunday's match between the two sides at the Emirates as he cannot play against his parent club, but he has already made eight league starts for the Cherries and played the full 90 minutes in the last four.
That is an achievement in itself for a player who had the last two seasons ruined by injuries and pushed for a loan move in August in order to resurrect his career.
Wilshere only has one more season left on his current contract, and has acknowledged he may have to leave the Gunners permanently in order to secure regular first-team football, but Wenger said he will definitely be offered a new deal.
"Yes of course," he said. "Not before the Bournemouth game, no. We have to plan that around the New Year."
Wenger said he has been pleased with Wilshere's progress at Bournemouth, where he has become an integral part of Eddie Howe's midfield.
"I am happy that he develops well," he said. "I think it was basically in the end the right decision for him to go. He gets regular football and now, on the observations I get from our people who watch him, he's getting stronger every week.
"That's exactly what he needed -- to have regular football, maybe not every three days but every week at the start. That's helped him a lot to develop and come back to the level he deserves to be at."
Wilshere said this week he hopes Bournemouth will win Sunday's game -- and Wenger insisted he was correct to say so.
"That's normal when you're committed to a club. When you sign for a club, you're committed to a project and you have to do well in that season," Wenger said. "You can't say you want your own team to lose the game."
The Arsenal boss also paid tribute to former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, who announced his retirement on Thursday.
Wenger said the decision was a bit surprising because he "thought he will play until 40" but added: "Overall, you can just salute a fantastic player who has shown that I think he had the qualities that every midfielder dreams to have.
"He could score goals, he could cross the field, he could shoot from distance, he could cross the ball, he could dribble, he had pace, he had commitment, motivation. It's a massive player, Steven Gerrard, and on top of that, he was loyal to Liverpool. So that's as well a quality that you don't find a lot nowadays."