Aaron Ramsey Should be Careful

New Contract or Go!

The transfer deadline closes next week and Aaron Ramsey is yet to put pen to paper on a new deal.  With only one year left on his contract, Arsenal will either want to tie down the 27 year old Welshman or see if they can cash in on the player and find a worthy replacement.  Arsenal have not officially taken a hardline stance, and one year ago with Alexis Sanchez in a similar situation stated they would rather lose the player on a free transfer than sell to a rival.  But the bluff was called during the winter transfer window when we saw Sanchez move to Manchester United, and I think rightfully so most Arsenal fans were happy to get something in return for their loss.

The truth is we could easily lose Ramsey to a rival for nothing next summer if he does not sign a new contract, so why wouldn’t we look to get something in return right now?

Arsenal’s side

Ramsey is a good player.  He may even be one of Arsenal’s better players.  But he is not a £50m player.  He is not a player that would guaranteed walk into one of the top four sides in England and start.

Arsenal are a big club.  Arsenal need to act like a big club.  Arsenal need to be reasonable and offer Ramsey a reasonable contract, but this has gone on long enough and it is time for Arsenal to be cut throat.  Arsenal should be seriously considering unloading Ramsey at this point and replacing him ASAP as there is precious little time left in the transfer window.  The truth is these negotiations should have been wrapped up a long time ago, as now with the transfer window nearing its close Ramsey is the one holding the power.

I’m surprised this wasn’t dealt with back when the Wilshere discussions were held.  I have always seen Wilshere as a box-to-box player similar to Ramsey, and when Wilshere left it seemed for all intent and purposes that Ramsey was set to stay.  That Arsenal had not solidified negations and had his signature on paper before dismissing Wilshere was a huge mistake.  Arsenal played their hand and left Ramsey in the drivers seat.  Although there may not be a like for like replacement for Ramsey currently in the squad, I would still sell him before the window closes (assuming he refuses to sign a new contract) and plan to find a player of his caliber or better immediately if possible or come December worst case scenario.  I am a huge fan of Ainsley Maitland-Niles and I think he could be better than Ramsey in the longterm.  Although he has been considered more of a defensive mid, with Torreira and Guendouzi also slotting into these deeper positions, Maitland-Niles may need to be pushed forward to get his chances regardless – and it’s time for him to play!

The bottom line is I know fans will be unhappy to see him go, and it will definitely hurt us in the short term, but Arsenal comes first.  Arsenal needs to show they are in charge and not be held hostage into handing out an exorbitant contract to a good but not great player.

Ramsey’s Point of View

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From Ramsey’s point of view, he needs to be careful here.  I haven’t seen many comments out there to parallel my viewpoint, but I am starting to question Ramsey’s loyalty to the club.  Yes, I know loyalty is dead, but still you have to at least give the impression of it.  And blasphemous talk of a transfer to Chelsea??  A good example to look at is Alexis Sanchez’s situation last year.  By the end of Sanchez’s time with the club, it really didn’t matter how good he was or how many goals he scored, I was happy to see him leave.  I am still a believer that no player is bigger than the club, and if you don’t want to be at Arsenal then good ridden.

It is unclear what the sticking point is with Ramsey’s contract negotiations.  There are two or three main possibilities.  Of course, there is the possibility that he just wants to leave.  At 27 and in the prime of his career he may see this as his only shot to ever move to a club like Barcelona.  There have been rumours of a move to Camp Nou, but if he were to push through this kind of move, I don’t actually see him getting straight into the starting line up.  Ramsey has always seemed an ‘Arsenal player’ to me and I would have thought he would be jumping at a contract, especially under a new coach who has voiced his intention of making him a focal point.   Which leads to the other possible reasons why the negotiations have stalled – Ramsey is looking for more money or a longer contract.  We’ll start with the less likely, Arsenal is not offering a long term contract.  Given Ramsey’s explosive box-to-box style his years of playing in this position at the top level may be numbered.  And certainly Arsenal have young players in the wings who they may envision moving into this role in the near future.  It is definitely possible Arsenal are not offering him more than a three year deal with the foresight that he may not play this role into his 30s.  I expect Ramsey will be on a hefty salary and so a longer term contract such as five years might be in question for Arsenal.  The other sticking point, which I suspect is more likely is the question of salary.  We need not look any further than Ramsey’s teammate Mesut Ozil as a good example of this.  Aaron Ramsey watched as Ozil held out on signing a  new contract last summer.  Despite a lackluster year for the German, during the winter transfer window Arsenal were in a panic at the prospect of losing both Sanchez and Ozil in the summer, and rewarded the 29 year old with a three and a half year contract worth a staggering £350,000 per week.  From this point of view I can see why Ramsey is holding out.  I would doubt his contract offer is more than £200,000 a week so he may just be playing the same game Ozil and many players do.  But here’s why Ramsey situation is very different and he needs to be careful.  This ploy worked for Ozil, but remember this was at a time when Wenger was fragile and panicking with a top four spot slipping away and his legacy in peril.  The timing was right for Ozil with Sanchez’s departure also looking bad for the club, and also remember that Ozil was a World Cup winner with Germany and had played with Real Madrid.  This game could easily backfire for Ramsey though.  We are in a very different situation with a new manager and a much more positive vibe around the team at the moment.  To this point, and to the media, Arsenal have stated that they want to see Ramsey with the team, perhaps even as a captain, but if he does not commit his future soon I could easily see the attitude toward him change.

One final thought on Ramsey while he plays this game of cat and mouse, is that he will need to maintain his fitness and form as his contract runs out.  Should he show a significant dip in form or sustain a major injury without a longterm contract in place, he could really regret his decision to let his contact run down.

We will see how the Ramsey contract saga plays out, hopefully sooner than later.  I for one do not expect this going the way of Mesut Ozil’s ridiculously lucrative deal last year, but I would be very happy to see Rambo stay with Arsenal on a three year agreement with a fair contract for both club and player.