Arsenal: Aaron Ramsey one of Arsene Wenger’s greatest successes

Aaron Ramsey had himself a hell of a time in his early Arsenal career, but he is where he is right now because of literal brilliance from Arsene Wenger.

I’ve just spend some time babbling about how Granit Xhaka is entering similar waters that Aaron Ramsey was in last year (and years before) and it clicked in my head that of all the time Arsene Wenger has spent at Arsenal, he may have never, and may never again, handled a player as well as he handled the Welshman.

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It’s been awhile since we’ve had anything to praise Le Prof for, so let’s start here. Think about it. He was brought up as a teenager. Right next to Jack Wilshere, he was the next big deal. They were the future.

Ryan Shawcross does his thing and Ramsey misses the better part of two years. It’s remarkable that he even got back as soon as he did. Breaks like that have ended careers. But he came back and he worked his way into the conversation and got back into the starting XI in the old 4-2-3-1 formation.

Wenger invested hope in him and Ramsey pulled it off remarkably, with one of the best seasons Arsenal has seen out of a midfielder in decades. He was untouchable. And he even missed some time due to injury.

Then, injury forces him out of the XI and Santi Cazorla steps in and steals his job. Being a good manager, Wenger doesn’t stick his favorite back into his preferred position just to appease him, he sticks him out wide. It doesn’t go well.

Months pass, seasons even, and Ramsey has sporadic brilliance but nothing more. People think Super Rambo was a fluke. Plus he can’t stay healthy.

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Finally, he gets his place back into the base of the 4-2-3-1 but it’s not the same. The people around him have changes, the game itself has changed, and it isn’t the same Super Rambo. Through it all, Wenger sticks with him. he’s clearly determined to get the most out of the Welshman.

We see him go off for Wales in 2016, in their three-at-the-back formation and sure enough, about six or seven months later, Arsenal has switched to a three-at-the-back and Ramsey is in a very similar role that he had with Wales.

Just like that, Super Rambo is back. Now, I can’t help but shower appreciation on Wenger for this. He never gave up, he didn’t just keep beating his head against a wall hoping for something to change. And obviously a lot of the changes weren’t specifically made just for Ramsey, but that doesn’t take away from the effect that it has and the wherewithal to turn to Ramsey first and foremost when those changes were made.

Genius. That’s what it was. The entirety of the situation, over the past decade or so, is pure genius. And we are reaping the rewards of it now, albeit the reward may seem a bit small in the grand scheme. But at the very least, we know Ramsey is at his best. With 50 goals to his name. So much credit goes to Wenger for this.

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After all, we always harp on Wenger for mishandling certain players – Joel Campbell, Lucas Perez, etc. – so it’s only fair to highlight when he’s gotten one spot on, as he’s done here.