The Daily Mail are today reporting that talks between Arsenal and Aaron Ramsey have collapsed and the player will leave the club at the end of the season when his current deal expires.
In a throwaway paragraph at the end of his match Arsenal v Brentford match report, Sami Mokbel writes, “Aaron Ramsey is set to leave Arsenal at the end of the season after talks over an extension to his deal collapsed. The Wales star, 27, was ready to commit to fresh terms but, despite having only nine months left on his contract, there is now no deal on the table.”
This isn’t the first time that talks have reportedly collapsed. Almost two weeks ago we covered a report claiming the same thing while adding that the contract talks had reportedly been impacted by the ‘media circus surrounding Ivan Gazidis.
In that report, The S*n claimed Arsenal were closing in on a new £250,000-a-week deal for the Welshman at the start of September, finally getting him tied down after months of negotiations. However, uncertainty around chief executive Gazidis’ future reportedly ‘undermined the whole process’.
At the start of September, it was claimed that talks were moving in the right direction so it seems clear that somebody somewhere has got their information wrong. It’s easy to blame the Gazidis issue, but we’ve known he was leaving for a while now and reports still kept coming that Ramsey would renew.
“In terms of Ramsey, there is still no agreement,” Charles Watt wrote a few weeks ago. “But I did hear from someone I trust last week that things were moving in the right direction and that he thought a new deal was not far away – which is a positive. I think he will eventually sign.”
There have, of course, been links with AC Milan as well. They reportedly want Gazidis to talk Ramsey into leaving Arsenal for the Serie A side according to Gazzetta dello Sport.
Although Milan have been taken over by Elliott Management, which is fronted by Gazidis’ mate Paul Singer, they are not flush with cash. One of the holdups with Ramsey agreeing to a new deal with Arsenal is said to be what he’s asking for in terms of wages. While he isn’t expecting to get the same as Mesut Ozil’s £350kpw, he will want a significant increase on his current £110kpw.
Although the Rossoneri would be able to justify a large pay-packet for the midfielder if they didn’t have to pay a fee for him, their highest paid player is Gonzalo Higuain who earns around £130kpw. The next highest paid is Giacomo Bonaventura on £80kpw.
Add to that the fact that Ramsey and his wife are expecting twins and it’s unlikely that they will want to uproot their whole family to move somewhere they will need to learn a new language. Especially not after they splashed £1.3m on a new house in Cardiff.
If Arsenal have decided they don’t want Ramsey, that is another matter entirely.