Arsenal: Aaron Ramsey Running Out Of Luck

Arsenal have long held faith in Aaron Ramsey, but the Welshman’s enigmacity may finally be his undoing. Where does he fit into Arsenal’s scheme?

Among my many traits, among being an Olivier Giroud sympathizer, I am also a huge Aaron Ramsey sympathizer. I find him very similar to Giroud. When he is switched on, there are few better. When everything is falling into place, it just looks like he could conquer the world on his own.

But then you have those irresponsible moments when he loses possession. Those ill-conceived moments where he gets caught way ahead of play and those painfully funny moments when he misfires a shot.

Everyone has their flaws, only Ramsey’s flaws can dominate his play.

The Welshman was never able to follow up his massive 2013/14 campaign. While numerous stats stayed the same, he scored far less and assisted far less. Plus he lost possession more. Many called it a simple case of trying to be too ‘Hollywood’, something Ramsey adamantly denies being.

The trend seemed to be that when you gave Ramsey a prolonged stint in the center of the pitch, he would come to life. It was his favored position. Out wide just didn’t give him the acres to roam.

But matched up with a non-defensive mate like Cazorla or Elneny was met with frustrations. In the end, the links tying him to Barcelona seemed to look more and more possible.

Now that Granit Xhaka has been acquired, we have to wonder how much patience Ramsey has left. Wenger didn’t spend all that money on Xhaka not to use him. He is going to be a starter. The initial belief is that Cazorla will be his midfield mate, and what a partnership that would be.

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There would be room wide right for Ramsey, but is that good enough for him? I don’t think so.

Ramsey is going to have to, yet again, fight for his position at Arsenal. Normally this kind of opportunity would excite me, but all I’ve seen from Ramsey when he is forced to fight for his position is less possession loss. That’s an improvement, but the dynamite Ramsey that scores long-range goals and picks out passes seems to disappear.

There is a chance that Xhaka is the perfect Arsenal midfield mate for Ramsey. Both have an unquenchable work ethic and Xhaka rarely gets caught ahead of the ball. But he still attacks. That is why I feel that Cazorla would be a great partner – the combined control.

Ramsey has to have patience and he has to have fire and passion to win that spot back. He has the talent to do that, we all know he does, but we have to wonder if he would rather fight for a spot at Arsenal or go to Spain, somewhere he has always wanted to play.

Next: Determining Xhaka's Midfield Mate

Wenger has had so much faith in Ramsey and he will continue to. It’s time to see that 2013/14 Ramsey re-emerge. Ramsey and Xhaka could be long-term midfield partners for Arsenal but they both have something to prove to fend off an ever-present Cazorla.

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