Arsenal: Aaron Ramsey Must Stick Through Rough Patch

Arsenal’s storied history with Aaron Ramsey has taken many twists and turns. This latest one is just the latest obstacle in the Welshman’s quest.

The news is in that Aaron Ramsey is fit. He’s ready to take on West Ham. But we have to wonder whether we’ll see the Welshman in the starting XI… again this year.

Since Aaron Ramsey has been out injured, Mohamed Elneny has made the strongest claim in the history of claims and taken over the midfield spot that Ramsey vacated. This demonstrative claim has left Ramsey, Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere wondering what their spot on the team will be.

It is Aaron Ramsey that will be mostly effected by this situation. Ramsey was finally returned to his favored central spot when Cazorla got injured (Cazorla took Ramsey’s spot when Ramsey got injured). However, his returns left a lot of room for question. His defensive ability was superior to that of Cazorla’s, but the fact remained that Ramsey gave the ball away with little regard. It led to far too many sticky situations for Arsenal’s defense.

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But Ramsey’s potential to be prolific left him a key piece of the offense – just a bit of a liability. Yet, despite all the negativity, few can deny what the perks to Ramsey’s game are. He is an offensive sparkplug who can carry the team when he is clicking.

That in and of itself is the appeal of Mohamed Elneny. So far, we have not seen Elneny look like a prolific attacker like Ramsey. We have seen him look like a rock, controlling the game, completing passes, and not losing possession. And that is what Arsenal need. More than they need another prolific attacker. Ozil, Alexis, Iwobi, Welbeck – they can attack on their own. Look at their last two games, for instance.

Elneny fits the current scheme much better than Ramsey does. Which brings us back to the unfortunate situation that he finds himself in in his Arsenal career. Still just 25 years old, the fact that he has such a high degree of internal competition should do nothing but help him. In the long run, that is.

I wrote a piece not long ago about Olivier Giroud and Per Mertesacker both not having a shred of internal competition. That has negatively effected their growth. But Ramsey is a different story. Every time he gets hurt he has to come back and fight to get his spot back. Who benefits from that?