Arsenal: Unai Emery has no Aaron Ramsey choice

Some Arsenal fans have criticised Unai Emery for allowing Aaron Ramsey to leave. But the fact of the matter is this: He doesn’t really have a choice.

Aaron Ramsey will leave Arsenal in the next six months. Either it will be in a transfer in the coming weeks, prior to close of the winter window on January 31st at 11 PM. Like it or not, that will be the eventual outcome of the contract crisis that has riddled the Gunners and culminated in the Welshman being the third star player in the last two years to enter the final year of his deal.

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Because Ramsey is a popular figure at the club, with his impact to the midfield seen as something that should be preserved, not deserted, the decision that the club has taken to allow him to leave has largely been considered, especially considering that they are not seeing any return on his exit whatsoever.

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As a part of that criticism, Unai Emery has copped some flak for his apparent decision to not see Ramsey as a useful player that needs to be kept in north London. A quick Twitter search of ‘Emery’ and ‘Ramsey’ will yield plenty of angry fans bemoaning Emery’s decision to spurn Ramsey’s future at the club, as if it is the Spaniard that is engineering this exit.

But that is a very loose and backwards perspective to hold about this whole ordeal. Ramsey is not leaving Arsenal because Emery does not think that he is a good enough player to partake in their top-four onslaught. Of course Ramsey is good enough. And of course Emery and his coaches believe that he is good enough. But the fact of the matter is simple: Arsenal cannot afford Ramsey.

The Gunners were already running up a high wage bill. That is because Arsene Wenger liked to pay reserve players handsomely and hold a relatively even wage bill across the whole squad. He neither paid stars eyewatering fees or underpaid lesser or younger players. Then they added Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Mkhitaryan’s £200,000-a-week wage — all figures are reported — is more than Alexis Sanchez’s wage of around £100,000-a-week. Aubameyang is earning £250,000. And then, in the same week that they signed the two former Borussia Dortmund attackers, Arsenal decided to offer Mesut Ozil a new contract worth £350,000-a-week. That is an approximate wage increase of £700,000-a-week, all in the space of a week.

It is no surprise that Arsenal cannot afford Ramsey. They are shelling out serious cash on other players. Now, whether those decisions are the correct ones or not doesn’t really matter. Those contracts have already been dished out. You cannot turn back time. The Ramsey choice had to be made once the Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang and Ozil deals had already been completed.

And so, it is easy to see that Emery has no choice in the Ramsey saga. If he wanted to keep the midfielder, and I believe that he does, then he couldn’t. The club cannot afford him. That is why Ramsey is leaving.