Arsenal may force the sale of star midfielder Aaron Ramsey if he doesn’t sign a new deal, as the Welshman begins to run down the final year of his current contract.

That’s according to The Times, who write that Ramsey’s situation is one of the most significant Arsenal still need to solve before deadline day on Thursday. The club are still currently confident the 27-year-old will sign a new deal, but if he doesn’t they’re ready to push through a sale.

It’s clear Arsenal are still suffering from flashbacks to last season’s contract mess with Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Özil. Although it didn’t turn out too badly in the end, with Özil signing a new contract and Arsenal getting Henrikh Mkhitaryan in for Sanchez, the few months of rampant speculation in between did the club no favours at all.

With just over a day left until the Premier League transfer deadline though, it’s hard to see a quick and easy resolution. If Ramsey still hasn’t signed his contract at this stage, there must be something holding him back. We can always hope he’ll sign a new deal tomorrow so we can all focus on the season, but it looks unlikely.

Meanwhile, Chelsea were the only team who seemed to be seriously interested in paying up for the midfielder, and now they’re seemingly signing Mateo Kovacic instead. Regardless of The Times’ claims, we could be set for another ongoing saga.