Liverpool are interested in signing Aaron Ramsey, and plan to convince the Welsh midfielder to follow in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s footsteps, according to Ian McGarry.
McGarry, described as a ‘transfer expert’ by the Express, made the claims whilst speaking to the Transfer Window podcast. He insisted that Ramsey is taking time to consider his future after learning of Liverpool’s interest.
“There’s a little bit of interest from Liverpool, I understand,” McGarry said. “I think there’s no vacancy at Liverpool right now following the arrival of Fabinho and Naby Keita, but Ramsey would certainly be a very good addition to Jurgen Klopp’s squad as a creative box-to-box midfielder.
“So, Ramsey is taking time and quite rightly to weigh up his options.”
However, McGarry then went on to add that Ramsey isn’t in any hurry to complete a move right now. The 27-year-old knows that his contract expires at the end of next year, so he can easily sign a pre-contract in January, or force a move like Alexis Sanchez by making it clear he won’t agree a new deal at Arsenal.
“I don’t think he’s particularly worried about moving (by the deadline),” McGarry added. “As of January he can sign a pre-contract with any club outside of England, as Emre Can did with Juventus and move next summer for free. The fee that would be demanded for him now – £35m to £40m – would be paid to him in wages as a signing on fee.”
It’s a big relief that the English transfer window closes before Arsenal’s game against Manchester City next weekend.
Although foreign clubs can still sign Ramsey until the end of August, it would be a bizarre decision from Arsenal to sell the Welshman at a time when they couldn’t replace him, so realistically by next Thursday we should know if he’s staying or going.
More importantly, we know for sure that we won’t get another Oxlade-Chamberlain scenario, where the player plays against his future club days before signing for them.
We’ll see just how reliable McGarry is in the coming days, but I wouldn’t read too much into the speculation for now.