Arsenal and Aaron Ramsey: Unai Emery better than finances

A Daily Telegraph report has stated that Arsenal’s rescinded contract offer to Aaron Ramsey was a result of Unai Emery’s assessment. While still not ideal, that is better than financial motivations.

Aaron Ramsey will almost certainly leave Arsenal football club this season. Although there is great admiration and respect between club and player, it would take a major u-turn for him to remain in north London beyond the end of the year. His contract will expire and the Gunners have made it clear that they cannot afford a new one, at least at Ramsey’s justified current demands.

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The main questions that arose when the reports surfaced a week or so ago centred on the motivations of the decision. As Ramsey has since confirmed, a deal was all but agreed to. The club and the player had settled on a wage package that both seemed happy with. And then, suddenly, they weren’t.

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Arsenal rescinded the contract offer and held the belief that the team will be better off without Ramsey, even if he leaves for nothing next summer. It’s a strange turn of events, especially considering the nearness of the new contract, and it took some rather strong motivations to take such a dramatically different decision.

My fear was that the Gunners had taken this course of action purely because of financial reasons. They simply couldn’t afford Ramsey. In the modern game where wages and transfer fees are forever rising, that would be unacceptable alongside the spouting ambition of titles and trophies.

But according to this report from The Daily Telegraph, Unai Emery, as well as the club’s hesitance to invest so heavily in Ramsey, was a key factor to the decision being made:

"“The withdrawal of the offer of a new four-year contract was the result of Emery’s assessment of Ramsey and, crucially, the club’s reluctance to give the midfielder, who earns £100,000 a week, the pay rise he was seeking.”"

Although it is still frustrating to see Ramsey and Arsenal divorce, if the decision has come from Emery, who is now in charge of the team, the master of the tactics of the side, the individual who everyone must now adapt to, — and not him adapting to them — then it is a little more comforting.

Not only does it, to some extent, settle the fears of Arsenal being unable to compete at the sharp end of the Premier League because of their restricting finances, but it also suggests that Emery does carry a degree of influence at the club which is necessary for any head coach to have success. If decisions are being made from those above, it can be extremely difficult for a manager to work.

I am sure that there would have been some pressure from the board and owners based on the financial stretching that a new Ramsey contract would have enforced. But it is good news that Emery had a say in this decision and that his assessment led to the decision not to renew Ramsey’s contract. This is Emery’s team. It’s crucial that he is the one making the decisions.

It will be sad to see Ramsey leave. I still believe he is an extremely useful player who could do Arsenal well. But he hasn’t slotted into Emery’s system neatly and his wage demands deem him to be a key player. At this point, he isn’t. I’m just glad that it was Emery, and not just the finances, that came to the decision.