Jack Wilshere spent nearly a decade as a first-team player at Arsenal.

The Englishman broke into the first team in 2008, when he was just 16 years old. It would’ve been a daunting experience for someone so young to go into a team full of big names.

Wilshere did most of his talking on the pitch, and he immediately became a fan favourite at Arsenal. He showed massive potential, and everyone believed he was a superstar in the making.

Jack Wilshere says he saw Kolo Toure and William Gallas get into a fistfight at Arsenal

Kolo Toure and William Gallas were both huge personalities at Arsenal.

The former was part of the Invincibles squad and was an elite defender. He wasn’t easy on the eye like William Saliba, but he did what he had to do very effectively.

Gallas was not quite on that level, especially at Arsenal, but he was a real character, and his emotions often got the better of him – on and off the pitch.

That happened on Boxing Day in 2008, after Arsene Wenger’s Gunners conceded late in the game and were held to a 2-2 draw against Aston Villa at Villa Park.

Tempers flared in the dressing room soon after, right in front of a 16-year-old Jack Wilshere, who has now claimed that it was the biggest fight he ever saw.

He told The Athletic: “I’ve seen a few, but the biggest one that stands out, because I was so young as well, was William Gallas versus Kolo Toure, Boxing Day 2008 at Villa Park.

“We just lost the game, I believe (it was actually a 2-2 draw). I think something happened with Kolo, and William was blaming him, and then it all boiled over after the game. Two big guys going at it. As a 16-year-old, it was quite intimidating.”

When David Ornstein, who usually knows everything that goes on, claimed that this story never came out, Wilshere replied: “There weren’t that many fights with Arsene, but I suppose when I hear all the stories about when Arsene first got there with all the older guys, they were fighting all the time.

“And I actually don’t think it’s a problem. I think if you’re in a competitive environment and you all want to win, you all want to do well, that can happen.”

Wilshere concluded by saying: “Proper fistfight. They (players and staff) were breaking it up. It was after the game as well, so the tops were off. It was a lot.”

Kolo Toure left Arsenal because of William Gallas

Toure and Gallas played 78 times together for Arsenal, and more often than not, they were a fairly solid partnership. However, the two players didn’t like each other.

The Ivorian claimed that their feud was so bad that they didn’t even speak to each other – not even on the pitch. That was unhealthy, and for that reason, he decided to leave.

Toure told The Guardian in 2010: “When you play with somebody and you don’t even talk to each other on the pitch, it’s really difficult. Me and Gallas, we didn’t talk to each other at all.

“One of us had to go, and it was me. It was coming down to me really because I didn’t want to put the team in a difficult position, so I was the one who said I wanted to go.

“As a player, I had great respect for Gallas because he was older than me and in Africa, when someone is older, you have respect for them, but I think sometimes, he took advantage of that in some ways.

“I had six years at Arsenal, but the last two were very difficult. It can happen in football that you argue with somebody in training, but when you are not even talking on the pitch, something has to change.”