Arsenal: The Devil On Aaron Ramsey’s Shoulder Speaks Again

Arsenal and Aaron Ramsey are entering into a bit of a tough zone, and with the devil on Ramsey’s shoulder barking in his ear, it will only get stickier.

Arsenal once felt the pure greatness of Aaron Ramsey when he carried the team through the 2013/14 season. It was glorious. Everyone was happy. There was much rejoicing.

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While the numbers have never stacked up to that season, neither have the opportunities. And the inflated sense of how good he can be may have gotten in the way, but it’s hard to blame him for that. He had an entire season of being prolific and he returned to find himself evicted.

Now, it is always in the back of our minds that Ramsey may not have a place on the team and, given his confidence and quality, may be destined for an exit. As an ardent Ramsey supporter, itis the last thing in the world I want to see, but I couldn’t blame him, if the season continues the way it seems to be going.

This all isn’t helped by the little devil on Ramsey’s shoulder, Chris Coleman.

“There’s not a team on the planet he couldn’t play for when he’s at his best, there’s not a team he couldn’t play for,” Chris Coleman said, via the Metro.

“That’s not a biased opinion because I’m a Welshman and we all love Rambo. I’m looking at it clinically. Playing in tournament against the top teams, he was head and shoulders above. He could play for anyone.”

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And then, for good measure, he added: “‘He’s not played too much football for Arsenal, of course, but he’s going to start the game as we sit here now.”

Any doubts that Ramsey is having are exacerbated by the Welsh international manager, who would probably personally pay for half of the transfer fee if Ramsey were to want to go to another team. He and Wenger do not exactly see eye to eye on most issues.

It is a massive sticky situation that is only going to get stickier the more Ramsey doesn’t play, which, as Coleman pointed out, happens too often.

Contending with Ramsey is hard enough, but with the added impetus that Coleman is putting on it, Wenger is going to have his hands full keeping the Welshman happy and, unfortunately, that isn’t likely to happen from a wide position.

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Getting some time centrally, albeit briefly, against Tottenham was a good, solid start, but there has to be more to it than that.