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Arsene Wenger has urged caution over Jack Wilshere, likening the Arsenal and England starlet’s heavy workload to a car heading towards a wall.

Wenger claims he is the master of developing young players and that his vast experience is telling him Wilshere needs a break.

According to Wenger, Wilshere’s involvement in both of England’s fixtures in the international break “defied common sense”.

Further adding to the club versus country tension is Wilshere’s stated desire to be part of the England U-21s at the European Championships in the summer, with June also bringing another Euro 2012 qualifier for the seniors which he could be involved in.

Wilshere, 19, made his first senior England competitive start in the Euro 2012 qualifier against Wales last weekend, and was again named in Fabio Capello’s XI for Tuesday night’s friendly with Ghana at Wembley, where he played 70 minutes. If he continues to represent his country at all ago levels he could have played almost 60 games in his first full season before having a break.

“A lot happened last week that defied common sense, but I do not want to talk about that,” Wenger said. “I do not want to go into these battles any more, and I did it with France. But I have enough experience, and experience helps you only to anticipate problems – you know this car will hit the wall at some stage and you see it a little bit earlier than somebody who has less experience. Nobody has brought more young players out than I have and I have a good experience of what kind of stages they go through.”

Wenger is also aware of the added pressure the home-grown starlet has to cope with.

“I think the best way to help Wilshere is to leave him alone to play football,” said the Arsenal manager. “I don’t deny that he is a very promising player. I wouldn’t play him in the first team at 19 with the number of midfielders I have if I didn’t believe that. But let him play and what he will be, he will be. We are all confident that he has a bright future, but it is the first season. Let him play.”

Capello has declared the likes of Wilshere and fellow Arsenal team-mate Theo Walcott are, along with Liverpool striker Andy Carroll, the future of the national team. Wenger feels long-term thinking is the only way to develop a successful strategy, particularly in terms of managing player workloads.

“You prepare for a European Championship a year before, not in May or in June before the competition,” he said. “France was European and world champions. Then they went to Australia, they went to Chile and after went out of the 2002 World Cup in the first round without scoring a goal – with the best goalscorer in England, the best goalscorer in Italy and the best goalscorer in France in the team. I told them before.

“England do think about it, but they have to decide what to do and we will adapt. We will give the needed rest to Wilshere if he plays the tournament. At the end of the day, what is important is that England has a good player, Arsenal has a good player and the player has the needed rest to produce good performances.”

Arsenal host Blackburn in Saturday’s late kick-off looking to keep the pressure up on leaders Manchester United, who head to relegation battlers West Ham at lunchtime. With the Premier League now their only hope of silverware, Wenger knows there can be no more room for error.

“We cannot afford any more draws, but the good thing is the other teams are in the same position,” he said. “We have now recovered some players during the international break. We were touched mentally, because we played with desire, but did not have free spirit. For us to play well, it is important to have a free spirit, so to recover a bit mentally was important.”

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Rafael van der Vaart insists he has every intention of remaining at Tottenham next season.

Van der Vaart, 28, has enjoyed a revival at Spurs after ending a frustrating two-year spell with Real Madrid last summer, but he revealed this week that he misses the lifestyle in the Spanish capital.

He has also complained that he is rarely given 90 minutes during games, but he remains convinced that he can win silverware if he stays at White Hart Lane and has no interest in a summer move.

“The fact that I’m not being linked with top clubs does not matter to me,” he told Nu Sport. “I don’t intend to leave Spurs after just a year.

“You always have to be ambitious. I want to win trophies, and I think in the short term I can do that every year with Tottenham.

“The chairman is very enthusiastic. He’ll say: ‘I want to sign this player and that player.’ I like the sound of that. If we can qualify for the Champions League once again next season it will become easier to attract new signings.

“The chairman gave former manager Martin Jol a Porsche as a present after a good run of results. He hasn’t yet done something similar for us, but maybe he might if we win the Champions League.”

Van der Vaart said he has been frustrated that Spurs have failed to take advantage of recent Premier League fixtures against sides battling relegation and that they must improve that aspect of their game if they are to become serious challengers for the title.

“Tottenham are still in the process of developing. In our last three league games against Blackpool, Wolves and West Ham we’ve taken just two points, but it ought to have been nine, and that is stupid,” he said.

“We do very well against the bigger clubs, but we mess up too much against the smaller sides. Maybe that is the final step that we need to take. We have sufficient money to remain in the race with the other big clubs.”

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