Arsenal: And now we start it all over again with Aaron Ramsey

After toiling through the contract crises of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal may now have to start it all over again with Aaron Ramsey.

Contracts, contracts, contracts. It seems like it is a never-ending cycle of crisis, criticism, brief celebration, and then crisis again.

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Arsenal have a uniquely misguided handling of their players’ deals. Arsene Wenger has said on several occasions that he likes to keep players on short contracts, arguing that it provides a greater motivation to perform than the security that a confirmed and continued future brings. To some extent, he is right. Some players will perform better with the added incentive of having to earn a new contract. But rarely does it actually make it worth sacrificing continuity and assurance.

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And we have seen that play out in full force in recent months and years. The ongoing sagas of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez finally came to a head during the January transfer window. The result was a surprisingly positive one: Ozil signed a new deal; Alexis was swapped for a player of at least comparable talent, if not quite the same production. It did not, though, come without a cost.

Sanchez, for example, played far below his expected level for much of this current season, the dressing room was unsettled by the doubt and uncertainty that it was riddled with, and Arsenal, although signing an adequate player in Sanchez’s stead, certainly did not receive market value for a player who was directly involved in 34 goals in the Premier League alone the season prior. And now, the Gunners could be set to start the whole debacle all over again.

It was around the 18-month-expiring stage that the Ozil and Sanchez situations began to steam to the forefront of people’s concerns. Sadly, that is the point that Aaron Ramsey is now at with his current deal, along with Danny Welbeck, Nacho Monreal, Petr Cech and David Ospina, though none of those are perhaps as worrying as the Welshman’s situation.

Now, Ramsey is not quite the same calibre, quality or reputation of player as an Ozil or Sanchez. But he is enjoying one of his best seasons at the club — he currently has six goals and six assists in the Premier League, which is the equal-most in the squad with Alexandre Lacazette’s nine goals and three assists –, he is right in the heart of the prime of his career having just turned 27, and although there has been outward indication that he would like to leave, if he did want to depart, Arsenal would have little power to stop him.

Much of the focus, for example, may have been directed towards Sanchez and Ozil, but Arsenal were forced into selling Serge Gnabry, Wojciech Szczesny and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in recent years because they refused to sign new deals with just 12 months remaining on their current one. It is not inconceivable that the very same predicament could develop with Ramsey.

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The problem is easy to see: Arsenal are simply too lax with renewing the contracts of their players. And while solutions may have been found for the likes of Ozil and Sanchez, these same problems will only occur in the future if a more deeper-rooted issue is not resolved. Wenger and the club need to be more proactive, starting with one Aaron Ramsey.