Unai Emery has stated that Aaron Ramsey is a key figure in his plans and Arsenal sounded extremely positive at the prospect of extending the Welshman’s contract, yet nothing has been concluded, why?
Well, it would seem, if the information is correct, that the player has been offered improved terms but that he wants parity with Arsenal’s big earners. Mkhitaryan, Ozil and Aubameyang are at the upper scale of Arsenal’s wage structure and Ramsey feels that his long service, loyalty and commitment should be rewarded in the same way.
Arsenal, for their part, appear to be in a miserly mood with their owner, Stan Kroenke, looking to fork out around £600 million to relieve Alisher Usmanov of his shares to assume total control of the north London club.
It’s a bit early to become involved in yet another contract fiasco, the same as the club suffered with both Sanchez and Ozil but it appears increasingly likely that it is going down the same route. Ramsey knows that if he went on the market there would be a host of clubs clamouring for his services.
He also knows that as a free agent, he is likely to secure a sizeable cash lump sum for signing on, plus a hefty weekly wage, so the emphasis is on Arsenal to do the deal. It’s the biggest fear of Arsenal fans that with a new manager onboard and the prospect of a massive investment to secure the Russians shares, that Arsenal will have reduced spending power in possibly the most competitive league in the World.
They are miles away from the glory years, with a side that doesn’t have the Calibre of personnel at present to mount a serious challenge. It also has to be said that they need to trim the deadwood from the squad but there have been very few inquiries for their players, apart from season-long loans. That tells you everything you want to know about the clubs peripheral squad.
Despite Arsene Wenger’s claims of being just a few players away from success, it appears Arsenal are as far away from that scenario as they have ever been. The last thing Emery needs is to end up with one arm tied behind his back and the other hand stuffed into a boxing glove, unable to get the cash from the safe.
Perhaps the clues were there already but we chose to ignore them. Ivan Gazidis said during his search for a manager that the academy players would have to be part of the clubs plans, suggesting that he already knew of an impending deal between Kroenke and Usmanov. In theory, this leaves Arsenal in a weak position and Ramsey in an extremely strong one.
Kroenke needs to realise that Ramsey would be a big loss at a time when they can ill afford another departure without having a ready-made replacement. They need to get the deal over the line or Emery will have to conjure rabbits out of a hat.
