FOR the past 10 years, Aaron Ramsey has felt like part of the furniture at Arsenal. However, this summer he will leave the club to sign for Italian giants Juventus on a Bosman free transfer. Unusually, he goes with a certain degree of blessing: according to the player, it was the club who withdrew from contract talks and decided to let him leave.
It’s difficult to escape the suspicion that the main reason Ramsey is leaving Arsenal is a financial one. Some reports have claimed the Welshman will earn £400,000 per week in Turin. As a caveat, it’s probably worth taking the figures we’ve read about Ramsey being paid with a pinch of salt. Ultimately, it suits the player and his agent for those huge numbers to be out there. However, the likelihood of him being paid that sum as a basic salary is extremely slim. The contract is probably highly incentivised. What’s more, it’s possible he would have accepted a smaller sum to remain in London.
— Aaron Ramsey (@aaronramsey) February 11, 2019
However, any significant wage hike for Ramsey might have stretched Arsenal’s budget troublingly thin. The Gunners appear disturbingly cash-strapped; a lack of Champions League football meaning they’re having to cut their cloth accordingly. In January, Unai Emery was not granted any funds for permanent transfers. With the club already sinking huge sums into the salaries of players like Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, meeting Ramsey’s demands could potentially have crippled them.
However, there is a potential footballing logic behind this too. Firstly, it’s difficult to justify such an exorbitant salary outlay on a player with a such an unfortunate history of injury problems. Ramsey rarely makes it through a full campaign without at least one protracted absence. Arsenal cannot afford their highest paid players to miss a large amount of games (which is, frankly, what makes Ozil’s summer departure a dead cert).
What’s more, Ramsey has never quite managed to make the Arsenal team his own. That’s partly due to the presence of other midfielders who’ve taken precedence—latterly Ozil, but before that the likes of Jack Wilshere and Cesc Fabregas.
It’s also because he’s not a player who’s particularly easy to tactically accommodate. He’s a central midfielder who continually wants to vacate the central midfield. If you’re going to make that work, you have to build the team around him. Ramsey has rarely been available often enough to justify that decision.
Ask any Arsenal fan to name Ramsey’s best season, and they’ll instantly respond with 2013/14. Ask them to name his second best, and they might struggle. That was five years ago now, and to an extent Ramsey is still living off those glories. His inability to gel with a succession of potential partners has made him a perennial square peg in Arsenal’s various formations.
It’s entirely possible that Ramsey never really had any interest in signing the contract with Arsenal. He’s spoken before of his ambition to play abroad, and will be moving to a league where he’s almost guaranteed to be competing for major silverware. For a player who’s never won a league title, Juventus holds an obvious appeal.
I saved these because it was one of the best weekend’s of my life. Cheers @aaronramsey pic.twitter.com/U5JsK4iLkq
— Andrew Allen (@AAllenSport) February 11, 2019
He’ll be missed, of that there’s little doubt. There has been significant debate among the Arsenal fanbase about whether or not Ramsey qualifies as an Arsenal “legend”. Frankly, there’s little point squabbling over semantics—what’s certain is that he’s done enough in his decade with the club to write himself firmly into the folklore. Two winners in two separate FA Cup Finals is, after all, a fairly unique achievement.
However, those are mere moments. They’re moments that are etched forever into Arsenal fan’s memories, and that’s so often what determines a player’s status. Given their limited resources, Arsenal need someone who’s able to contribute more consistently—even if it is in a less eye-catching manner. Effectively, Ramsey’s place as Granit Xhaka’s midfield partner has been taken by Lucas Torreira: a diligent, disciplined, more physically resilient, more cost-effective alternative. Given their current situation, that’s probably what Arsenal need more.
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