Arsenal: Surely Aaron Ramsey isn’t apart of the £50 million?

Unai Emery, per the Daily Telegraph, is ready to prioritise Arsenal’s summer budget on securing the future of Aaron Ramsey. Surely the Welshman isn’t a part of the £50 million, though?

There has been much talk regarding the amount of money that Arsenal actually have to spend this summer. The ridiculous £200 million war chest has inevitably been mentioned, as has some more reserved predictions of £50 million or even less.

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When David Ornstein questioned Ivan Gazidis about how much money would be available, Gazidis evaded the question, pointing the BBC journalist to the club’s public financial figures which would clearly show how much is available. Inevitably, they do not clearly show it, but this was simply Gazidis politically not answering a rather pointed question.

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Nevertheless, the most mentioned figure, the one that seems to be closest to the actual budget, is £50 million, which doesn’t sound all that much, especially in today’s market in which both Manchester clubs, Liverpool and maybe even Chelsea could all look to spend upwards of £100-£200 million. And unfortunately, the bad news does not stop there.

Per a report in The Daily Telegraph, new manager Unai Emery is keen to commit the majority of the summer resources to re-signing Aaron Ramsey to a new, long-term contract. The Welshman is seen as a key member of the team by Emery, is someone who he wants to build the team around, and is one of the cornerstone pieces for this new era. It could cost as much as £200,000-a-week to keep him at the club, which would total an approximate £50 million investment over a five-year period, making Ramsey one of the highest earners of the squad.

Now, I absolutely agree with Emery’s thinking. Ramsey is of the utmost importance. He is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, for which he was named Arsenal’s Player of the Season, and, when fit, he is integral to the balance of the team marauding his way through the heart of the midfield. But I did not think that re-signing Ramsey would take a chunk out of the summer budget.

I would have expected the club to have made financial preparations for the re-signing of players like Ramsey and Mesut Ozil in January, who also received a bumper pay rise. Admittedly, the additions of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan obviously added substantial wages to the books, but this is a club that should be able to invest that type of money.

Per a SoccerEx study in January 2018, Arsenal are the second-most financially powerful club in the world, behind only Manchester City. That study is based on projections for the future, but it still provides an indication of the healthy financial position this club has been in for many years, even without the Champions League last year or this year.

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They should be able to invest more than just £50 million minus the new Ramsey contract; they should be able to do both. I am not expecting them to rival the Manchester clubs. That will never be possible. But at this point, the paltry amount of spending is utterly infuriating and somewhat damning. This is just another instance.