Arsenal: Unfortunately, Jack Wilshere right about Aaron Ramsey

Jack Wilshere has stated that Aaron Ramsey should be made club captain, not forced out of Arsenal. Unfortunately, he’s right, but that is the way of it.

Aaron Ramsey is seemingly set to leave Arsenal football club. After more than a decade with the club, winning three FA Cups, including scoring the winning goal in two of those finals, and being named Player of the Season last term, the Welsh midfielder’s time in north London will come to an end this season.

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In the final year of his contract, it was always plausible that Ramsey could leave. In the grand scheme of things, the club had little power. If Ramsey wanted to leave, he simply had to play out the final year of his contract, pick his destination and waltz out the door. But, in the end, it was the Gunners that rescinded their contract offer.

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Naturally, everyone has an opinion. Ramsey is one of the leading Premier League players. He will be highly coveted by plenty of the elite European clubs. His profile deems his departure interesting. One person who shared their perspective on the whole ordeal was former Arsenal midfielder and a great friend of Ramsey, Jack Wilshere. Speaking with the Islington Gazette, Wilshere stated:

"“He’s [Ramsey] grown up to be a great player with Arsenal. They could do with someone like him. We know what he can do for the club. For me, he’s a future Arsenal captain. I know he loves the club. It’s difficult for me to comment on because I’m not there but I do know he’s a great player – if it was me I know I would want to keep him around. He’s a great guy to have around. He’s been at the club so long and knows it inside out.”"

Anointing Ramsey future club captain seems like a bullish claim. And it is, to a huge extent. But Wilshere’s claim, although rather ambitious, does carry an element of significance. Even if you do not believe that Ramsey should not be made captain, the very fact that he is in the conversation and the possibility is not being roundly dismissed illustrates his importance.

What Wilshere is essentially saying is that it would be detrimental for any football club to actively — I say ‘actively’ because it is the club that has made this decision — lose a player of Ramsey’s influence, quality and character. And in that sense, he is absolutely right. Perhaps it was overstating the mark a little to claim that Ramsey should be made club captain. But the underlying meaning is still there.

The problem is that Arsenal also have very good reasons for moving on from Ramsey: his lack of fit in Unai Emery’s system, which has been recognised by Emery himself, the vast wages that they would have to pay him to keep him, the financial restrictions that they are facing because of two years out of the Champions League, as well as handing substantial contracts out to Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and others.

Wilshere is correct. Ramsey should be a player that Arsenal build around, not move on from. But it is an unfortunate truth because that is something that they just cannot do. That is the situation that they are in and, at this point, there’s not much that can be done about it.