Why Aaron Ramsey is playing an increasingly dangerous game over protracted Arsenal contract talks

Unai Emery dropped Ramsey for the trip to Chelsea and has revealed he told the player to ‘maintain his focus’ ahead of the West Ham match. The Welshman is playing a dangerous game

Not long after Arsenal’s pre-season friendly victory over Atlético Madrid, in Singapore’s sweltering late night heat, Unai Emery was asked about the future of Aaron Ramsey. The Welshman had been handed the armband earlier that evening, and Emery was confident the 27-year-old and his representatives were close to agreeing to a contract extension on improved terms.

“For me, I want him to stay with us, to work with us, to give the team the big performances with his quality,” Emery said. “And I think he is going to stay here with us. I think Aaron is an important player for us. The contract is one thing for the club and the player.”

Exactly one month later and, on the surface, it appears as though little has changed. The two parties remain in talks. Ramsey still hasn’t put pen to paper on a new deal. And Emery seemingly still wants to keep the Welshman at the club.

And yet there has been a noticeable shift in mood in the club’s attitude to the player, who started the match against Manchester City before dropping to the bench for the trip to Chelsea. Emery too has changed his tune, rather dialling down the charm offensive which characterised his initial attempts to resolve the situation. Now he is no longer quite so unequivocal.

“I spoke with him last week,” Emery revealed ahead of Saturday’s London derby with West Ham. “And I said: I want you focused only on training and only on the match – you show us the capacity to help the team. The contract is another thing for his agent and the club but we want and I need his focus only on training, only on the match and on his performance each day.

“I am thinking in the present. I spoke with him last week but now, today, my focus is on the match and I want the player to be focused only on Saturday. So that our players give our supporters quality and energy. And so they focus only.”

In holding out for a substantial improvement to his current £110,000-a-week wages, Ramsey is playing a dangerous game. It is only fair for Ramsey to want an improved deal given the £350,000-a-week extension handed to Mesut Ozil in January, but such a hard-line approach will only pay dividends if he retains the crucial role in the team Emery had initially spoken of upon joining. Simply put: if Emery drops him many more times he’s hardly likely to be handed the kind of lucrative deal he desires.

Emery has already shown that he is not afraid to make the kind of big decisions that so many felt Arsene Wenger lost the mettle to make. Jack Wilshere was allowed to leave on a free. Ozil was subbed off last weekend. And Ramsey was left out of the starting eleven altogether, following a completely ineffectual performance against Manchester City the week before.

Most worryingly for Ramsey is that Emery is adamant Ramsey’s benching was no petty powerplay, no underhand warning that he is not quite as important to this team as he possibly likes to think. Instead he embarked on a detailed explanation to insist that – no – Ramsey was left out for footballing reasons. Left out because there was another player in the squad who could do that particular job better.

Aaron Ramsey is yet to sign a new deal (Arsenal FC via Getty)

“Manchester City are a different team and so the preparation is very different compared to other matches,” Emery said. “Tactically they demand something different. Also Chelsea are different to other teams. We have to work very specifically to prepare for them.

“Saturday is also a difficult match, but we are thinking more we can control the match with our personality. And against Chelsea and against Manchester City we wanted to control with our personality, but there were more times in the 90 minutes that the opposition that they didn’t let us do that.”

Emery is a pragmatist – a head coach who has shown he is not afraid to switch between systems week to week, in an attempt to counter the strengths of whichever side he is up against. But where does such tactical flexibility leave Ramsey? And with Ozil unlikely to be dropped from the starting XI anytime soon, how many more opportunities will Ramsey get down the middle?

And so the contract talks remain at deadlock, as clubs from the Premier League and further afield hover with interest, only with a subtle shift in power. Before the season Ramsey was the man calling the shots, with Arsenal fearing a situation similar to Alexis Sanchez’s eventual departure for Manchester United. But Emery’s willingness to shuffle his pack could see Ramsey’s stock fall. The prospect of a bumper new contract is nowhere near as strong as it once was.