Aaron Ramsey to be Frustrated by Santi Cazorla Again this Year?

One of the main talking points last year was Aaron Ramsey’s frustration at being played out of position on the right wing. In case you had forgotten this little hullabaloo, here is what he had to say (via the Mirror):

"“I’m not hiding away from it, I want to be playing in the middle. I’ve had chats with the manager about it. I showed at Manchester United what I’m capable of doing when I go into the middle of the park. But the manager said he wants me do a job out there for the moment and obviously I’ll do that for him. But I prefer to play in the middle.We have wingers on the bench, but he’s still picking me out wide. Santi Cazorla is the one in my position. He’s the one who plays alongside Francis Coquelin and tries to get forward. I am trying to get that back.”"

We learned a couple things from this. First of all, we learned that Aaron Ramsey is a good sport and a team player. He was willing to put his wants aside for the good of Arsenal.

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We also learned that he probably is not willing to do that forever, and with Barcelona barking at the door for a rumored 50 million pounds, I do not want to see Arsenal push him to the limit.

Aaron Ramsey is a central midfielder. We know this, Arsene Wenger knows this, probably a couple billion people out there know this, and it is understandable that he would be frustrated with having to play out wide especially when he had not necessarily done anything wrong to be move out there. He was simply injured when Santi Cazorla moved into the deep-lying role and made it his own.

Cazorla made 12 appearances as a defensive midfielder. According to WhoScored.com‘s player ratings, he maintained a 7.65 player rating at the position. Not quite up to his 8.19 as an attacking midfielder, but pretty close. He did only score a goal and notch three assists from deep however, and that is a telling stat. In two less appearances, he scored five goals and added six assists in an attacking role.

Compare those stats to Aaron Ramsey. Ramsey was unable to replicate his phenomenal 2013/14 season, mainly due to a nagging hamstring problem, but he did maintain a 7.34 rating with two goals and two assists, putting up as many appearances at the position as Santi Cazorla.

However, keep in mind that Ramsey was hampered by injury.