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Arsene Wenger tells a story about Aaron Ramsey, one which shaped Arsenal’s Welsh midfield maestro.
Ramsey had just emerged from a circus of hostility, sporting a dismayed facial expression, similar to those seizing the visages of his Arsenal colleagues. Arsenal had succumbed to the efficiency and expertise of a Manchester City side pursuing the Premier League title, displaying the gulf in quality between the two clubs. Yet there was something distinctive about the distress which had crossed Ramsey’s facet.
It may have simply just been the toll the defeat had taken on him yet Wenger knew the Welshman required special counselling, a heart-to-heart to revive a career which had flighted to prominence with such promise. The subject of scrutiny and criticism, Wenger called a meeting.
The Meeting
It was hard, extensively challenging for the effervescent Ramsey, yet there was a touch of reassurance to Wenger’s tone and demeanour. ‘I don’t think people don’t like you’, he told the Welshman, ‘but they don’t like your game at the moment’. Keep it simple was the moral of the story.
Ramsey has come a long way from the animosity of Emirates, to be shielded entirely from its detrimental qualities and to now being its golden boy. It is hard to believe it was merely two years ago when Piers Morgan, Arsenal’s celebrity supporter, issued a scathing judgement of the midfielder. A ‘liability’, he branded him, questioning Wenger’s seemingly indomitable faith in the Cardiff City academy graduate.
No more.
What could have been
He celebrated his 200th appearance for Arsenal on Saturday in the 1-2 defeat to Manchester United, a feat which seemed improbable amid times of great adversity. The Welshman’s rise has been meteoric, winning over the faith of the Emirates with displays of his mercurial excellence. He has established himself as a vital member of Wenger’s squad, providing the effervescence, creativity and innovation which the Frenchman so dearly values. It is not hard to see why Wenger insisted Ramsey would develop into a future star.
The 23 year-old honoured his coming of age against what could have been amid the appreciation of the Emirates, his every run, turn and dribble roundly appluaded and recognised.
Ramsey could have been plying his trade for Manchester United, asserting his midfield quality at Old Trafford. As Premier League interest augmented as the Cardiff prodigy continued to excel in the Football League and the Welsh’s club incredible Cup run, to where they reached the 2008 FA Cup final, Sir Alex Ferguson was making phone calls, endeavouring to acquire the 19 year-old. Soon Arsenal and Everton were soon in the hunt and Ramsey opted for Wenger’s tutelage over Ferguson’s pedigree.
A “wrong choice”, as Ferguson described it in his autobiography? Anything but.
Wenger has kept faith in Ramsey in times of great adversity, in times most would be tempted to sell and reap the repercussions of distorted judgement. Wenger, though, believed in the Welshman, believed the youngster could one day reach his great heights, the heights he was destined for prior to Ryan Shawcross’s devastating challenge, fracturing his right tibia and fibula.
The impact on Ramsey, physically and psychologically, was considerable, leaving an indelible mark on the midfielder. Sidelined for nine months, Ramsey struggled greatly, losing the belief and support of the Arsenal support by every week.
He returned to action in 2010 with his admiration in English football reduced. No longer was he regarded as Wales’s golden boy, no longer was he Arsenal’s next thing, the next Dennis Bergkamp or Robert Pires. He was, however, an epitome of faded talent, of a career robbed by injury and a moment of perceived malice from Shawcross. Talent lost in a moment of madness.
Ramsey has defied the odds, the scrutiny and Piers Morgan in excelling for Arsenal, in establishing himself as an indelible regular. Likened to Zinedine Zidane by Alan Hansen, Ramsey has nurtured into a creative midfielder boasting talent of gargantuan proportions.
On Saturday he celebrated his 200th appearance for Arsenal, a milestone which seemed quixotic during times of great adversity.
He has come a long way from that insightful conversation, honouring his coming age against what could have been.
