Arsenal: Sadly, Aaron Ramsey more important than ever

Given recent midfield performances, Aaron Ramsey might be more important to Arsenal than he has ever been. Just as he is about to leave. Replacing him will not be easy.

It has been coming all year. Aaron Ramsey will leave Arsenal at the end of the season. In fact, the writing was on the wall when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil were all handed contracts worth more than £200,000-a-week last January. And so it has come to pass.

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The sad thing, however, is that irrespective of the time it has taken for his exit to unfold, and thereby the opportunity to prepare for the inevitable departure, Ramsey leaving feels like a real blow to the squad and the Unai Emery era.

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That, I believe, is because Ramsey, in the last few weeks, has proven himself more important to the team than almost ever before. He may not quite be playing at the same level as in the 2013/14 season, when he was largely heralded as one of the best players in the Premier League, but his role is more integral to the team than ever before, especially since Emery has shifted to a 3-4-3 formation which requires the energy and stamina that Ramsey provides in the centre of the pitch.

As illustrated in Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Everton, and as Adrian Clarke highlighted in this week’s The Breakdown on Arsenal.com, Ramsey’s omission thanks to a niggling groin problem unhinged the central midfield pair, with Everton able to carve through the vast open spaces on the counter-attack and from turnovers in possession. When Ramsey was introduced at half-time, the midfield improved drastically. That is no coincidence.

This stark showing comes in the aftermath of some of Ramsey’s best displays of the season. He was excellent in the North London Derby draw against Spurs, scoring the Gunners’ only goal of the game. His industry was invaluable the week after in a 2-0 win over Manchester United. And then he was the best player on the pitch in last Monday’s win over Newcastle United.

It is cruelly ironic that Ramsey has reached this point of pivotal importance just as he is about to walk out the Emirates door for the last time, collecting a rather handsome wage at Juventus, with nothing arriving in return. It is not just his exit that hurts this team; it is the fact that he must be replaced at great expense with no resource coming from his ‘sale’.

For those that have doubted his value and impact, they only need to watch his recent performances, and the collective performances of the team when he has not been on the pitch, to see his true importance.

Ramsey is critical to Arsenal football. In fact, he might be more critical to the club than he has ever been. ‘How have we got here?’ is indeed a question I am asking myself with painful repetition.