Former Arsenal forward Paul Merson has admitted that he was "very surprised" that Arsene Wenger allowed Jack Wilshere to leave the Gunners on a season-long loan on August 31.

After struggling with injury over the last couple of seasons, Wilshere was sent on loan to Bournemouth on transfer deadline day, with the England international due to spend the entire 2016-17 campaign with the Cherries.

Merson has claimed that he would "understand" if the loan was for "one or two months", but has questioned whether Wenger will find a long-term place in the Arsenal team for the 24-year-old.

"I was very surprised to see someone of Wilshere's calibre to go on a season-long loan, you could understand if it was one or two months. I was surprised Arsenal would let him go for that long," Merson told Sky Sports News.

"He's different to what Arsenal currently have, he makes things happen, he can thread the ball through the eye of a needle. This is not a case of Wilshere needing to play football, there are a lot of other players at Arsenal who need to play football.

"You'd have to ask whether Wenger fancies Wilshere, that would be my question to him. Does he fancy him as a player and does he trust him as a player? Because there are other players at Arsenal who haven't performed and they haven't been out on loan."

Wilshere, who was left out of the latest England squad, has just two years remaining on his current Arsenal deal.