Arsenal: Aaron Ramsey more helpful than any loan

Arsenal want to sneak into the top four. While it is more financially risky, keeping Aaron Ramsey for another six months will be more helpful than any loan signing they can make this January.

Arsenal’s target for the season was to finish in the top four and reclaim Champions League status — that could also come via winning the Europa League, though the top four was the main priority. A little over halfway through the year, the Gunners are slightly behind schedule but still within touching distance.

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With a strong end to the season, including a win against Chelsea on Saturday, they can squeeze back into the top four and back into the Champions League. But Unai Emery and his players are going to have to play far better than they have in recent weeks. They will need all the help they can get.

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You wouldn’t know it, given the complete lack of activity, but the January transfer window is currently ongoing. Arsenal, however, will not be very active. Emery confirmed earlier this month that they can only afford loan signings with no permanent acquisitions likely to be made. That has led to some to suggest that Aaron Ramsey, who will depart for nothing at the end of the year, should be sold for cheap to raise funds, with a loan replacement filling in for the remainder of the season.

Juventus are the likely buyers, with a contract reportedly being agreed, but there have been some murmurs that a January deal could be struck, with an alleged fee in the region of £15-20 million. That may not seem like much but it is £15-20 million more than will be received in the summer and it will rid of six months of Ramsey’s wage. There is some financial sense to the move.

But there is little footballing sense. Whatever player Arsenal could sign on loan in January, they will not be as helpful as Ramsey is to attaining a top-four finish or winning the Europa League. Denis Suarez, Yannick Carrasco, Ever Banega. Not only is Ramsey better than these players anyway, but he understands the system, has a wealth of experience of the Premier League, and would take no time to settle in.

There is not a player who could realistically be signed on loan who would help Arsenal more than Ramsey already does. The financial argument is fair enough, but if Ramsey is the difference between qualifying and not qualifying for the Champions League, which is not all that inconceivable, especially given his history in important cup matches, the extra boost in resources any January sale would provide would be blown out of the water by the Champions League pay fall.

Getting back into the Champions League is the first step of the Emery project. It will ease the financial burden the club is currently suffering with, it will attract better players to the team, it will be a sign of progress, either in league position or by winning a European trophy, something that Arsene Wenger never did, incidentally.

And Ramsey is more helpful to Arsenal’s Champions League quest than any player they can sign in January. It makes the finances riskier, should they fail to attain Champions League football. But it is still a risk worth taking.