According to reports in The Mirror, Southampton have joined the race to sign Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere, who announced on his Instagram account on Tuesday that he will be leaving when his contract expires at the end of the month.

What's the word, then?

Jack Wilshere celebrates scoring for Arsenal

Well, The Mirror report that Saints boss Mark Hughes is keen to bring the26-year-old to St Mary's this summer, although he could face competition from Premier League rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham United, as well as Serie A outfits Sampdoria and AC Milan, who have already made offers to the England international.

Wilshere must now decide where his next destination is going to be, and whether he wants to stay in the English top flight or whether he wants to move abroad, seeing as he appears to have both of those options on the table.

What happens next?

Well, even though Wilshere has turned down the contract offer from Arsenal, Southampton, whose fans hate the idea of them signing a 26-year-old target following his latest World Cup display, face a huge battle to bring him to St Mary's and they should turn their attentions to a player Hughes knows well instead.

The Welshman signed Giannelli Imbula in a £18.3m deal for Stoke City in 2016, and while he made a positive start to his Potters career he quickly struggled, and he spent the 2017/18 campaign on loan at Toulouse.

The 25-year-old showed his strengths and what he is capable of during his spell with the Ligue 1 strugglers, and as well as passing accuracy of 88% in 28 French top flight appearances, he successfully completed 65 of the 85 dribbles he attempted and made 25 key passes, as per WhoScored.com.

Imbula would bring some defensive awareness, power and ability to bring the ball forward, and despite struggling with Stoke in the Premier League previously, Hughes should take another risk on him this summer.

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