Arsenal: Aaron Ramsey contract strings pulled by Unai Emery

Arsenal have offered Aaron Ramsey a new contract. He is a key part of Unai Emery’s new plans, per reports. The two are not a coincidence. This is Emery pulling the strings.

Arsenal faced a rather daunting contractural nightmare last summer with Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and myriad of other players including Kieran Gibbs, Wojciech Szczesny and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. And, predictably, they are in the same kind of mire this summer.

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Admittedly, their troubles are not so concerning. Of the players who have a contract expiring within the next year, there is only one who could be deemed anywhere close to irreplaceable. But that one is the heartbeat of this current, and potentially future, team. Tieing him down is of the utmost importance.

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Good news, then, that Arsenal have offered a new contract to Aaron Ramsey, as first reported by The Times and then subsequently supported by this BBC Sport piece. And while it was expected that an offer would come at some point in the near future, the certainty of the reporting is a little surprising. There had been very little talk of either party coming to the negotiating table throughout last season. And then, suddenly, a fully-fledged offer is made. Odd.

So, what’s changed to inspire such swift course of action? Well, I don’t actually think it’s that difficult to find out, if a little reading between the lines and speculating is done. Obviously, the key change has come with the departure of Arsene Wenger and arrival of Unai Emery in his stead. A new manager alters every decision that is made at the club, especially when the one departing is one as influential and all-powerful as Wenger.

Additionally, there have been significant reports that Emery is wanting to build his Arsenal side around the inexorable talents of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ramsey. Obviously, if that is to be the case, then the latter needs to be secured to a new long-term deal.

And so, putting two and two together, it is not especially difficult to see what has happened here: Emery has arrived at the club, proposed his plans for the short and long-term futures of the team, plans that have Ramsey at the heart of them, submitted his desire to have Ramsey’s future secured, and then, with their blessing, Ivan Gazidis, Raul Sanllehi, Sven Mislintat have instructed contracts expert Huss Fahmy, who was hired from Team Sky a year prior, to enact the process of an offer.

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The signing of Ramsey to a new deal is the first sign of Emery’s plan coming to fruition. This is the team that he wants to build and the Welshman is integral to it.