Arsenal: Aaron Ramsey staying not midfield solution

The future of Aaron Ramsey is somewhat uncertain. With a year left on his contract, it is equally as likely that he could stay or go. However, even if he were to stay, that would not fix Arsenal’s midfield.

Arsenal have a lot of questions to answer and holes to fill this summer. The biggest of them all, obviously, is their manager. Not only is this the first time that they have had to search for and hire a new manager for over two decades, but who they choose will have an influence on every other decision that is made at the club.

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One area of the squad that does require some addressing is in central midfield.

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The need for a true, anchoring defensive midfielder has been crippling for many years, Santi Cazorla is seemingly set to depart as his contract expires at the end of the year and the Gunners are hesitant to offer him a new one after nearly two years on the sidelines with a rather horrific ankle injury, and then there is the uncertainty of both Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey.

It is the latter that I want to discuss in this piece, though the prior context is exactly why I want to discuss him. Ramsey’s agent’s comments regarding ongoing contract negotiations slipped into the mainstream consciousness on Sunday. Commenting on an Instagram post, the agent, in a simply-worded comment, left nothing to be understood:

"“Not quite, we are still waiting!”"

Ramsey, then, is far from an Arsenal player for the foreseeable future. And that got me thinking about the possible ramifications of him staying or going. I couldn’t avoid one clear fact: Even if Ramsey stays in north London, the midfield is still lacking a solution.

In fact, even if Wilshere and Ramsey both stay, joining the everpresent duo of Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny, then Arsenal will still need to bolster their midfield options. Put simply, that quartet is not good enough to challenge for the title. It’s not even good enough to challenge for the top four.

While there is a vast array of pressing concerns that need addressing this summer, you could easily state that the midfield is perhaps the biggest of them all. A defensive midfield and a pressure-evading distributing individual are almost essential, though the two could perhaps be rolled into one if the right player is found. And that is without either of Wilshere and Ramsey departing.

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And so, the future of Ramsey, while an issue that needs resolving this summer, is still an element of much more troubling problem: The Arsenal midfield is just not good enough, with or without the Welshman.