Santi Cazorla says England midfielder Jack Wilshere is back to his best after injury

Spanish star Santi Cazorla has heaped praise on Arsenal team mate Jack Wilshere and says the young midfielder has 'amazing potential'.

Injuries saw Wilshere miss the whole of last season for the Gunners while he was also out of action for England for 17 months, including Euro 2012.

However, in October he returned to the Arsenal team playing his first game in over a year and was back in the Three Lions a month later.

And Cazorla, who joined the Gunners from Malaga in August, says he's happy to see Wilshere gaining confidence every day.

“He has amazing potential,” Cazorla told the Arsenal website. “I did not know him well when I arrived because he was not at the training sessions due to his injury.

"Everyone was already talking about him, saying that when he returned, the team would improve, and that has been the case.

“Every day he is gaining more confidence, he is forgetting about the injury, and he is a key player that can influence the result in a game, and thus, we are all very happy to see him 100 per cent again.

Cazorla added: “He was out for a long time and it was an injury that takes time to heal. It is always hard to come back from injury, especially if it is very long.

"You always have that fear up until you start getting your confidence back, and you start getting back to your old self, and he has done that quickly.”

Meanwhile Wilshere, who won his sixth senior cap for England in the friendly defeat away in Sweden last month, says he is feeling stronger than ever.

He has made eleven appearances for Arsenal since his return, scoring once against Montpelier in the Champions League, and with his 21st birthday looming on 1 January he hopes that the time spent on the sidelines will help him long-term.

"My body is stronger than it was before," Wilshere says in the Official Arsenal Magazine."I've improved my core, improved my leg muscle strength - everything.

"When I look back now, though, I could probably have done with a break, having played so much the previous season.

"Obviously I didn't want the break to be so long, in fact I didn't want to have a break at all. But if I look back on this in ten years' time, it might have done me some good in the long run."