Arsenal vs Boreham Woods: Captain Aaron Ramsey more than nothing

Arsenal beat up Boreham Woods and inspired a lot of fans in the process. But let’s hope that Aaron Ramsey was the most inspired.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The second most important thing for Arsenal to accomplish this summer is the signing of a new contract for Aaron Ramsey. It is now the most important thing because the previous most important thing is already done – a new manager.

It seemed at the start that it would be a fairly easy task to accomplish, as everyone was gushing over each other, Unai Emery and Ramsey showed a mutual admiration and that might have been enough, yet he remains unsigned.

Yet against Boreham Woods, in the first fixture of the Unai Emery era, the Gunners ran rampant to an 8-0 win with one important detail – Ramsey was captain.

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Ramsey was also the captain in Arsene Wenger’s last ever match, and he expressed his gratitude at the “honour” over social media. 

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By handing him the captain’s armband in the first match of the Emery era following the same in the last match of the Wenger era, the message is being sent that while so much has changed and will continue to change, the fabric of this club has remained the same.

I would hope by now that Ramsey understands how important he is to the club, and how much it would mean for him to tie the two eras together as the captain moving forward. He should definitely be the thread that seals that connection.

It may only have been a preseason match in the shadow of the World Cup, but I can also hope that putting that captains’ armband on and watching the team flow so perfectly around him was another reminder of just what this club can do.

Not just that though, what they don’t even know they can do. I’m not just being gushy when I say that the ceiling on this club is incredibly high and Ramsey is a big reason for that. At times world class, Ramsey is hitting his prime years and the difference between having that at the core and removing it altogether is rather stark.

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Yet, with so many other things going right, I think we can rest assured that wearing that armband, even in the preseason, was several notches above nothing.