Jack Wilshere says that Aaron Ramsey is good enough to play for every top team in the Premier League and believes the Welshman should captain the club in the future.
The 27 year old is into the final 12 months of his contract, and it’s a situation that’s playing out publicly after the Gunners withdrew an agreement that would have seen him extend his stay after joining in 2008 from Cardiff.
“Everything has been going great with the club,” said Ramsey last week. “We thought we were in a position where we had agreed a deal but that’s no longer the case.
“So I just have to carry on playing my football and do my best for Arsenal this season and I’ll leave the rest with the club now.”
Wilshere, who began his first team career at Arsenal alongside Ramsey, spoke to the Islington Gazette and talked up the quality of his former teammate.
“I think you’ve got to look at the situation and ask, ‘How many top teams in the Premier League and elsewhere could he get in?’
“And you’d have to say them all – and that speaks volumes about the type of player he is.
“He’s grown up to be a great player with Arsenal. They could do with someone like him. We know what he can do for the club.
“For me he’s a future Arsenal captain. I know he loves the club.
“It’s difficult for me to comment on because I’m not there but I do know he’s a great player – if it was me I know I would want to keep him around.”
Reports as to why the contract offer to Ramsey was withdrawn are varied. Some say it was because of a delay in response from the Welsh international; others than Unai Emery decided the resources could be better used having assessed the player in the opening months of his reign as head coach; and others still that the decision was taken higher up the food chain.
Whatever the truth of it, the fact remains that Arsenal as a club have once again found themselves in a situation where a valuable asset can leave for free, and that issue must be addressed.
Ramsey has left the door open to further negotiation, but we’ll have to wait and see what transpires.
BOOM Paul Pogba.
Wouldn’t switch Rambo for Pogba. Don’t know where this Pogba hype comes from. He’s playing absolute crap, since he’s back at United. Yeah, he was regular starter in the world cup winning Squad but so was Giroud and do we want him back instead of Lacazette, too? I don’t think so. If Rambo is inconsistent, what on earth is Pogba?
leaving aside the fact that Rambo is a very likable human being who’s with us for a decade and loves the club and Pogba is an attention seeking cunt who always went where the money was.
agree with berlingoon, also ramsey has a better haircut (most of the time)
Pogba is a Rolls Royce of a player. He’s been shit under mourinho but would be fucking immense for us. Anyway, it’s not gonna happen so doesn’t matter anyway.
It shouldn’t be possible that someone that strong and tall is so skilful on the ball. How many times have we crowned a player the next Viera?
Granted we would have to change our system again to accommodate him.
It’s all hypothetical, but not sure we’d have to change our system. Deschamps uses Pogba and Kante in a very similar way to how Emery positions Xhaka and Torreira.
So we might be comparing Pogba/Ramsey, but it’s actually Xhaka’s place where he’d be most effective in our team, not further forward.
Not really as his 3rd midfielder was Matuidi during the World Cup. He played more or less the Xhaka role and Pogba played deep but had freedom to go forward as the other 2 were sitting back then. And that would be Ramsey’s ideal role, too.
Matuidi’s role was to form the frontline of the press along with the strikers and make surging counter-attacking runs into the box. So not ‘the Xhaka role’.
And if Ramsey has one glaring weakness in his game that hurts the team, it’s not knowing when to stop the forward runs and sit in to protect the defense.
That was his role when they didn’t have the ball. But in posession Pogba was clearly the most offensive of them and had 2 men behind to cover him. So not that Xhaka role either.
“Deschamps uses Pogba and Kante in a very similar way to how Emery positions Xhaka and Torreira.”
even with france winning the world cup, pogba’s best football was unquestionably played with juve, and there he played on the left of a midfield 3, usually with pirlo in the middle behind him and marchisio or vidal on the right.
I don’t think Pogba played the Xhaka role for France at all; much more the box-to-box of Vieira and Ramsey at his best. But the formation was so different (France in an unbalanced 4-3-1-2 with Mbappe on the right, Giroud in front of Griezmann and no left winger) that it is hard to compare the roles. (The presence of Kante didn’t hurt either.)
Stranger things have happened, Danny. You never know.
Attention-seeking c**t or not, I’d switch Rambo for Pogba in about 0.6 milliseconds. Do we need to point out the 5-yr age difference?
How much you hate a player is not an accurate assessment of his quality. And honestly 80% of our team came to Arsenal to earn better money. That line of attack is lazy and dumb.
Rambo was born in December 90, Pogba in March 93. In which world are that 5 years?
Welp. Good correction (though my point still stands).
Rather admit I was wrong than continue the Arsenal meme of fans squabbling about exactly how old players are.
yeah, you could have said actually 90 and 93 are 3 years and 3 is almost 5. 🙂 Surely some would have. Myself included from time to time. Depends on the general mood. But we live and learn, don’t we?
There’s has not proven to be better than Ramsey so that swap would be anything but an upgrade. Ramsey has always had more goals and assists, so ion get which criteria the pogba band wagon is judging these midfielders on.
Purely speculation but it’s not even hard to imagine Ramsey getting more goals and assists had he been in the juve team that had pogba…. So………
Pogba is rich & famous and enjoying it. That doesn’t make him a cunt. His current manager is clearly one for example. As is John Terry famously. Pogba ? Just seems a totally unwarranted attack. Stick to debating his qualities.
So what him and his mate Lukaku are currently doing at United with their statements is cool, you think? You’d appreciate that if they’d be Arsenal players. You’d say leave him alone, he’s just rich and famous and enjoying it? No, it’s not just about his qualities on the pitch so why should i stick to that? And on the pitch Rambo had 11 goals and 12 assists, to Pogbas 6 goals and 12 assists last season. In less games.
He’s obviously not reacting brilliantly to his manager’s awful management style but I’m not sure many of us would in his position. Mourinho is just absolutely poisonous. Thankfully we’ve never had a manager remotely close to his level in that regard so we’ve never had to judge how players would react to that.
yeah, and how could he know that Mourinho is an asshole before signing for him for a lot of money? Poor Pogba.
Yeah, I really don’t get all this criticism of players flouting their lifestyles or coz they are expressive in their style or whatever. Its a thing superstars do these days, and I don’t think it affects how they play. I don’t mind if players are expressive. I believe these professional athletes know how to balance their social media presence, lifestyle and their training routines, in spite of all the efforts of the ancients of English football to make us believe that that is not the case.
Also Auba had diamond plated boots made for him while at dortmund, has quite a number of flashy super cars, colourful haircut, and his behaviour prior to leaving dortmund was very questionable.
Does that make him a cunt?
A quality player is a quality player, whether you like his attitude or not
It’s not about his car or his bling bling. It’s about how he acts inside the Team and towards the club. United was the team that brought him through as a youngster and they then bought him back for over 100 million. So they showed massive trust in him twice and he acted like an ass by complaining about their playing style and Mourinho publicly. You just don’t do that as a professional footballer that’s earning hundret of thousand of pounds each week. I would maybe understand it and try to justify it, if he’d had signed for a Klopp… Read more »
Pogba has always been crap
What? Can’t you figure out a way to say something bad about Ozil? Do you troll Man United too?
“Paul Pogba is an exceptional talent but he has another level to strive for. He needs to work on certain aspects of his game to be mentioned in the same bracket as Ramsey.” – Wenger
I’d certainly not swap Ramsey for Pogba!!
Yeah world cup winning, world record transferring, champions league finalist Paul pogba has a long way to go until he’s mentioned in the same bracket as aaron Ramsey.
Why on earth will you compare Ramsey with pogba. He is far far better than Ramsey in all forms
Pogba is everything we don’t need right now
Boom! Loyalty works both ways.
Are people really saying they wouldn’t take pogba at arsenal should he be available and willing? That’s proper madness. He would be an big upgrade on any similar roled player we currently have. Also a HUGE statement of intent which naturally brings confidence and shows other players the direction in which the club wishes to head. I do agree that it’s nigh on impossible but let’s not pretend we wouldn’t want him…
I think he’d fit best at chelsea. He wouldn’t have to move, he’d be perfect for Sarri’s system and we could get RLC in return.
I think the problem with Ramsey is that he moves too much, not that he doesn’t move. He’s all over the place and to the detriment of the team.
But what the hell do I know?
Bendtnerschristmastree meant that Ramsey would’nt have to move from London.
Well, yes haha
Very talented player no doubt but it’s a question of How he gets into those teams and ours in particular. Back from the day we sold Cesc and Nasri, he was played in behind the striker and it was disastrous for both parties. It took a change of mind from the boss around January to start using the impressive on loan Benayoun and Rosicky fit again that month to overhaul that gap to sp*rs. Ever since then it has been a question of where his best position is. It always seems to be the one he’s not occupying at that… Read more »
Technically he’s good enough to play differing roles in the midfield or behind a striker. He just doesn’t play those roles as well as is needed. When playing deeper he always leaves the team exposed as he can’t help pushing forward into dangerous areas (something he’s obviously excellent at). Playing as a ’10’ he doesn’t know where to move and link play and is picked up easier by opponents. For me he can only fit playing from wide
This got me thinking, could Ramsey be tried out at Xhaka’s position, alongside Torreira? Although that would mean meddling with a combination which is just starting to bud. Also Xhaka and Torreira complement each other well, I don’t know how well Ramsey would do the same, or if his qualities are suited in that deeper role. But Torreira has definitely freed up Xhaka, and it would be interesting to see if Ramsey can adapt to a player like Torreira, and instead of trying to burst forward at every instance, if he can become more of a creative midfielder, with the… Read more »
Crazy mismanagement from whoever was, or whoever should have been, in charge of the this situation.
As someone who strongly defended Rambo on this site during his post-injury years as he worked to recover his form while playing in multiple positions, I repeat my assessment from closely monitoring his stats and number of seasonal Premier League appearances – Aaron Ramsey is a 20-23 game a season player. Unless you’re peak-Robert Pires, you can’t win your team a Premier League title playing about half the games in a season. Wilshere is right to say Ramsey is a great football player. But to be worthy of the size of contract he wants, Arsenal need him to be great… Read more »
Ramsey got his horror injury in ‘10-‘11 season if I’m right, not much he could have done about that but since then he’s averaged 28.5games per season in the PL alone. His appearances range from a minimum of 23(‘13-‘14 and ‘16-‘17) up to 36 (‘12-‘13) per season. And this is not counting numerous cup competitions. When these are counted it ranges from 32 up to 47 per season (averaging 38.5 games per season).
Not looking to disagree or agree with your overall point, just pointing out you may not have looked at the stats closely enough ?
Yes mate, your numbers are numerically accurate. I focused on the last 3-4 seasons and (unfairly) left out his sub appearances which you included. Mainly because it takes him a number of appearances to play himself back into form after his injury niggles. And we can’t assess a player of Ramsey’s quality by cup appearances. He’s beyond that level now.
The Premier League is the true test of the best players, and my opinion is still the same – he’s a 20-23 game a season player.
That’s fair enough pal, that’s the thing with stats, even though they are factual they can still be interpreted differently. For me personally, I’d certainly count his Champions’ League matches, and so too the latter stages of the FA Cup, maybe even the last couple of rounds of the Carboatoap Cup pushing his number up to nearer 30 for me, though that’s just my perception and I see and appreciate where you’re coming from. Though I must admit, I’d struggle to name another member of the squad that can give us 25+ quality starts in the PL each season, perhaps… Read more »
Yeah it’s confusing to me as well. Wanted him sold in the summer so we could reinvest but he’s doing some really intelligent things in Emery’s system. He seems to really get it.
Ironically the one player who’s been consistently giving us 30 starts a season is… Granit Xhaka. So much for my theory about appearances!
Haha! Xhaka is an unusual one, reminds a lot of Ballack in his Chelsea days, in regards to causing such a stark divide in the fanbase and play style. People keep saying Ramsey has to challenge Ozil for the number 10 shirt (which i don’t fully disagree with, but more that he suits that role more for Wales than Arsenal), but I’d say leave that battle between Ozil and Mkhitaryan and instead I see Ramsey and Xhaka battling it out for that spot next to Torreira. It’s tricky as they are both CMs but completely different styles, and that role… Read more »
Can’t wait to see a diamond midfield of smith Rowe, Maitland Niles,guendouzi and torriera in the future.. Amazing
Smith Rowe
Guendouzi Maitland Niles
Torriera
Oh that’s so tantalizing and amazing…i can’t wait….for these guys to grow up and own our midfield.. We would dominate for years to come
Emery seems to know exactly what he does and doesn’t want, I hope the club back him. I love Rambo, but if Emery wants a player with different characteristics? that can do a different type of job in the squad? Or for the team? Then I trust his judgement. We’ve already got a replacement at the club by the looks of it, Maitland Niles looks like a real top talent. My personal preference would be to keep Rambo, but whilst I don’t trust the club to back Emery, I do trust that we have a ruthless manager who knows exactly… Read more »
Hopefully, that era ends with the departure of Ivan Gazidis.
What level British Core ™️ is this?
indeed he would jack, and Europe aswell
I don’t think he would play for Liverpool nor for City. And Chelsea I’m not sure either.
Because Jordan Henderson and James Milner are just such wonderful midfielders. (Remember, once he is healthy, Oxlade-Chamberlain–a player we know well–will almost certainly be Klopp’s first-choice midfielder. Do you honestly think the Ox is a better player than Ramsey?)
City probably not tho Silva is pushing 33. But definitely Liverpool and United, bear in mind Ox would walk in their now too. And if Kovacic goes back to Madrid then definitely Chelsea as well.
What I like about our post-Arsene Wenger leadership structure — Sanllehi et al. — is that sentiment seems to have been removed from the equation in terms of player analysis. These guys have allowed Jack (“one of our own”) and Santi (a fan favorite) to leave the club, which suggests that they don’t particularly care about the past. With respect to Ramsey, do they care that he had his leg broken on a cold night in Stoke nearly nine years ago? Do they care that he played out of his skin for a portion of a season five years ago?… Read more »
I want Arsenal to do well now and in the future, of course, but I am surprised to see any up votes for a post that is happy if the club’s leaders “don’t particularly care about the past.” If I felt that way about Emery and the others (I do, unfortunately, about Kronke) I would be dismayed, not happy.
I don’t think he will get into Barcelona, Real, Bayern, City, Chelsea, Jiv. Man unt – possible for counter attacking runs under Mourinho but he will be threatened of dire consequences if he leaves his position under normal play ?.
How many times have Ramsey broken the opposition attack compared to how many times his pass or delaying has lead to our attack breaking down?
He does run into the opposition box pretty often but then if you or I keep running into the opposition box continuously then we might get to shoot at the goal.
Who’s making the call now about contracts at Arsenal, Ramsey seems to want to stay. But someone don’t like his gut!