Arsenal vs Manchester City: Aaron Ramsey’s turn to fire back

Arsenal still haven’t signed Aaron Ramsey, but Manchester City comes first, and the Welshman has a big chance at something special.

Arsenal‘s one lingering problem, now that the transfer window has closed, is getting Aaron Ramsey a new long-term deal. For those of you that want him sold, you’re wrong. Plain and simple.

Anyway, about Ramsey. Naturally, we don’t know what goes on behind closed doors, but it stands to reason that Ramsey hasn’t signed the new deal that he admitted that he wants because he hasn’t gotten the money offer he wants.

There’s no other reason that he’d be holding out. He already got one of the armbands. He has the length-part down – five years.

The only possible explanation is money, as sad as that is. He hasn’t gotten a figure that he believes he is worth, and the team is trying to get him to lower his expectations.

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Well, that being the case, it’s time for Ramsey to fire back against Manchester City. This summer, he has only had the ability to say “look what I did last year,” but with a new manager in charge, he should treat this as a chance to make a massive immediate impact.

Rather than pointing to last year, he can say “look what I just did.” Which is a bit more impacting. And this is his first chance to do that.

Ramsey was a question mark to start the match-up against City. He had a niggling calf injury at the start of the week, but has since returned to training and, so long as someone is training in full, they should technically be ready to suit up for the first team. And I have trouble believing that Ramsey wouldn’t be ready, given the circumstances.

The Welshman is not someone who struggles with motivation, but consider this added fuel to the fire. If he can go out there and really lay a foundation down for what we can expect this year, then you can bet that the team will react accordingly at the negotiating table. And if not, well, then maybe the stars aren’t aligning after all, as hard as that is to say.

Of course, the other big benefit to this would be that if Ramsey puts his best foot forward, then we have a better chance to pulling three points away from City. It wouldn’t get much better than that.